[0:00] I recently was in a bookstore, and I was just walking around and I picked up a book by Penn from Penn and Teller, if you know who that is. He's a comedy guy, a magician, I think in some ways, but I haven't really seen his act before.
[0:17] He's a very, very outspoken atheist as well. So I knew that, and I picked it up, and I just kind of started reading some stuff. And I do not at all suggest you reading the book. It is very, very vulgar and very profane.
[0:32] But through that, it's just like in reading it, in a couple of chapters of it, it was just kind of a good reminder, I guess, of how much some people in this world really do hate Christ and hate the gospel and hate us that promote it.
[0:48] That's the world that we live in. It's a world that hates Jesus. It's a world that despises the Word of God.
[1:00] It's a world that flees from obedience to it, that suppresses all the truth that's contained within it, in their unrighteousness and in their sin. And in light of that, I just wanted to kind of make the point by saying that it is our responsibility, I think, in light of what was just said, to love Christ all the more, to make up for their loss, and also to show them the joy and the blessing, just the benefit of being a child of God and being a son of Jesus Christ, a brother of Christ.
[1:33] So, tonight, we're going to be discussing the doctrine of conversion. And to put it simply, if you haven't experienced the converting work of the Holy Spirit, then you are not a Christian.
[1:49] That is very important, I think, to understand from the outset of things, is that conversion is how someone is transformed from dead in their sin, from unregenerate, from a hater of God, to saved and a lover of Christ, and obedient to God's Word.
[2:08] The road of salvation is very narrow. The gate of entry to that road is very small, and few there be, says Matthew 7, that find it. Salvation is a very specific thing, and the world would have you think otherwise.
[2:24] The world would have you think that salvation can be achieved or attained through various ways and mediums, and that Christ is not the only way to heaven, but He says very specifically of Himself that He is. There is only one way to get to God, and that is through Christ.
[2:38] He is the door of our salvation. And faith is the opening of that door, and repentance, you can think of it as the key that unlocks it. Okay? The doctrine of conversion, in fact, is composed of those two things.
[2:53] It's composed of faith, it's composed of repentance. And so, when we're dealing with conversion, again, the idea of Jesus being the door, faith is the thing that opens up the door, and the key to unlock the door is repentance.
[3:08] They work hand in hand. They all have a function. They are two different things, faith and repentance are, but they are always together. Like best friends, they can't be separated. To lessen or to diminish one is to dishonor the other, because they are married to each other.
[3:22] If you were to dishonor your spouse, or you were to do something dishonoring, just in general, then your spouse would also receive that dishonor, as being unified with you.
[3:32] These are two doctrines that are meant to be unified as one, that are meant to be seen, and spoken of, and pictured as one. They are the gatekeeper that stands before the city of heaven, and if you wish to enter, you must enter by them.
[3:47] Christ is their Father, and they carry His traits. Jesus Himself came preaching the Gospel of, repent and believe in Me.
[3:58] John the Baptist said the same thing, repent and believe, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Peter said the same thing. Paul said the same thing. Repent and believe, repent and believe, repent and believe. They always came together.
[4:11] Believe, obviously, being referred to as faith. So we need to listen carefully to the words of repent and believe. We need to study them. We need to obey them, because apart from them, you cannot be saved.
[4:23] Apart from a right understanding of what it means to repent from your sins, and to put your faith in God, you cannot be saved. For many of us in here, we're already Christians. So to make it practical for you, understanding this message is how we take the Gospel to the lost world.
[4:41] If you're a missionary in India, if you're a missionary in Donovan, if you're a missionary in wherever, if you do what I do on a Thursday night, or what Clay does on a Thursday night, or what Chris does on a Sunday morning, no matter what your capacity is for teaching and preaching the Gospel, this is the Gospel.
[5:00] Repentance and faith is the Gospel. And being able to communicate that is very important. How frightening would it be if you were to die one day, and you find out at the judgment that you never truly repented of your sins, and you never truly trusted in Christ as your Savior.
[5:17] Matthew 7 says, Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did I not fill in the blank? Did I not perform miracles in your name? Did I not cast out demons in your name?
[5:28] Did I not do all these mighty works in your name? And he will say to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. There's a lot of people on the last day that are going to be confused. They're going to be really confused, confounded, afraid, terrified, of the fact that they didn't know Christ, genuinely, and with a heart that was sincere.
[5:48] They think they did. They were deceived people. Even what's said there in Matthew 7 could be likened to pastoral work. So there's pastors that don't even know Christ.
[6:00] That don't even love Christ genuinely. It's a frightening thought. And I don't want that to be true for you. So this topic can't be overestimated, but often it is underestimated.
[6:13] It's cheapened by phony altar calls with dim lighting and lit candles and an extra stanza or two from the choir. How quick we are to apply to ourselves a false forgiveness and a fake peace by responding to a moment and not a message, by responding to a method and not a man.
[6:38] A lot of your friends, a lot of the people that you know, maybe even you yourself, have been duped into believing that you know Christ because you had some experience in the past. Because you prayed a prayer when you were seven years old and walked down an aisle and signed a card and got baptized.
[6:52] That doesn't save you. That doesn't save you. True repentance is a different thing. And it's my hope to explain to you what that is.
[7:04] So don't apply that false forgiveness. Do not apply that fake peace. Let God apply it to your heart in His own timing. We must learn to wait upon God to give us peace.
[7:16] Because His peace is a peace that surpasses all comprehension. It is a supernatural thing that you can't apply to yourself. You can't manufacture it. You can't contrive it. You can't create it.
[7:27] It's a spiritual work done by Christ in the heart. Turn to Zechariah 12.10. I know we're in the Old Testament a lot tonight.
[7:39] But it's a good thing to do a little Bible drill right now, no? Zechariah 12.10. It's really towards the very end of the Old Testament.
[7:50] One book away, in fact. Just to prove my point that this is a spiritual work done by the Holy Spirit that you can't make yourself repent.
[8:02] That a lot of times what you see as repentance is not repentance. It is false. It is fake. It is manipulation.
[8:15] Zechariah 12.10 says this, And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication. So He's going to pour out the Holy Spirit on these people so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him as one mourns as for an only son and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over the first one.
[8:41] So you see in that passage what? That the Spirit of grace is going to be poured out on a body of believers. They're going to receive that Spirit. They're going to, through that Spirit, then see Him whom they have pierced.
[8:52] You see in Acts different places where it says where Paul or Peter preaches the Gospel and then the people are cut to the quick. It says. Or they're pierced to the heart. Or they're convicted of their sin, basically.
[9:04] And they cry out in anguish, you know, what can I do? What should I say? And he says, repent and believe in Christ. So this is the work of the Spirit. Repentance is not reciting a systematized prayer that we learned in vacation Bible school.
[9:19] It is wrestling with God. It is a very violent thing. It's not for the faint of heart. The Scriptures are so adamant about waiting on the Lord, tarrying along with Him in prayer, being patient in your repenting, and then He will be patient and plentiful in His forgiving.
[9:39] If you're patient with God in your repenting, He'll be patient, I keep saying patient, I mean plentiful in His forgiving. Those who truly seek God will never be neglected, but you must learn what it means to truly seek Him.
[9:54] So tonight, we're going to be discussing repentance exclusively, okay? And then next week, we're going to discuss faith. Because I don't want to leave each other out, but I don't also, at the same time, have enough time tonight to teach on both of them fully.
[10:05] So, one at a time. Tonight is repentance. So first, let me explain to you what repentance is not. Okay, I have three little points here. What repentance isn't.
[10:17] What false repentance looks like. Think about this, okay? The Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 13 that we should test ourselves continually to the Scriptures to make sure that we're in Christ, to make sure that we know Christ, that we love Christ.
[10:34] And actually, the Greek phrasing there is like, be continually testing yourself. It's not a one-time thing. It's an all-the-time kind of thing. And let your heart just, you know, be sensitive to this moment and test yourself genuinely to know whether or not you are truly a believer in Jesus.
[10:50] So number one reason, or number one, what repentance isn't. Repentance is not a fear of punishment. Repentance is not a fear of punishment.
[11:06] A lot of people, having continued in their sins for a while, have at some point felt strong conviction of sin. This may be you. Maybe you sinned for a long time in a certain way, then all of a sudden you felt a strong conviction of sin.
[11:23] Finally, at last, you were found out. And like a thief or an adulterer who's caught in the very act, you are filled with anguish and fright because of your shameless deeds.
[11:40] You're filled with fright and anguish and you shy away, you bow your head and you shy away from any kind of sin, from whatever sin that might be that you were caught in. And it seems like you've repented from it.
[11:52] You cry out in shame. You feel exposed. But then, eventually, that terror that you once felt subsides. and you're not the guy in the spotlight anymore.
[12:07] And since they have now, and since you have now, in a sense, tasted of the bitterness of sin, you've tasted of its anguish, you've been upset with it for a time, you think that as a result of that or you conclude that you have now repented because of your shame, because you drew away from it for a time.
[12:27] Even though deep down you still loved your sin. And you will return to it as soon as you possibly can, as soon as it's safe. So is that you?
[12:40] Have you turned away from sin? Have you repented at one point in time in your life? Have you fallen away from that pattern of sin that you once lived in and then all of a sudden, when the time comes, when the terror subsides, when the conviction is cooled off, gone back to it again?
[12:58] In a habitual way. In a loving way. In a joyful way. In a thankful way. Don't be deceived. That's not repentance. A thief feels remorse when he's caught.
[13:08] Not because he stole, but because he was caught. A sinner who feels remorse because he is caught is not regenerate. When Judas betrayed Jesus, he felt troubled, the Bible says.
[13:21] He felt guilty. He felt remorse. So much so that he went and hung himself. He didn't repent though. Because you see, he didn't have a love for Christ.
[13:34] He had a love for himself. Judas didn't have a love for Christ. He had a love for himself. He knew that he was damned and because of this damnation that he felt, he was incited towards sorrow and towards remorse.
[13:51] So have you repented only because you wish to escape punishment or shame or because it's embarrassing? That's not repentance. That's not godly repentance. Secondly, repentance is not merely resolution against sin.
[14:08] Repentance is not merely a resolution against sin. Fear is a powerful thing. And many men have made empty resolutions as a result of being afraid.
[14:20] Suppose a banker was taken hostage and put to gunpoint. And then he was asked this question, will you tell us the code to get into the vault? And sure enough, the banker responds by saying, I'd be happy to.
[14:33] You know, it's da-da-da-da-da, you know, it's 5, 7, 6, 5, 4, 5. Although this banker had previously, okay, promised, when he first took the job, to never divulge that information.
[14:44] He had promised his boss, I will never tell the code, it will be between myself and the vault, and that's it. But with a gun to his head, he's changing his resolution. He's saying, oh yeah, of course, I'll do that.
[14:56] Or maybe you can put it another way and say, I'll never do that again, you know, because of whatever the situation requires. A man will say and will do anything to escape the judgment of God.
[15:10] Revelation 6, 8 says, I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named Death, and hell was following close behind him. What will the sinner not do?
[15:24] What vows will he not make when he knows that he must die and stand before the God in judgment? Self-love raises a sickbed repentance. There's a lot of people that have tried to get repentance on their last days and they feel sick when death is staring them right in the face and they don't want to be judged for what they've done.
[15:43] But it's not a love of Christ. It's a love of self-preservation. But when this sick person supposedly recovers, the love of sin will prevail against it.
[15:57] Do not trust in a passionate resolution. It is raised in a storm, said this one author, and will die in a calm. So maybe you get aggravated because you're confronted by your sin.
[16:08] Somebody says something that accuses your conscience and yet you make some silly resolution but you don't ever come through it because you don't have any love for Christ. Thirdly, repentance is not leaving of some sins for others.
[16:24] Repentance is not the leaving of some sins for others. Repentance is not the leaving of some sins for others. A slave can be traded from one master to another and yet he's still a slave.
[16:37] So a sinner can trade one kind of sin for another but he is still a slave of sin. John Owen said this, He that changes pride for worldliness, sensuality for Phariseeism, vanity in himself or thinking highly of himself to the contempt of others, let him not think that he has killed the sin that he seems to have left.
[17:02] He has changed his master but is a servant still. A lot of people do this. A lot of people think that they are maturing in their Christianity because they have left one certain sin and yet they have taken on a brand new one.
[17:22] One certain sin has maybe diminished a little bit in their life. There's a lot of reasons for that. Maybe shame because of the sin. Maybe that sin is not as profitable to them as it once was. Maybe it's not as beneficial as it once was. Maybe it brings a lot of dishonor or shame or whatever to the families it once did.
[17:35] But that sinner is going to find a new way to express himself. So look for that. Just because somebody doesn't do one thing doesn't mean they're not a slave of sin in some other way.
[17:53] Don't think that you've repented when all that has really happened in your life is a trade and not a transformation. Now I'm not saying that we're ever going to be perfect or sinless. That's why we need Christ because we're not going to be.
[18:06] But if you have never seen in your life and in your heart any growth in your love for Jesus Christ and if you have never seen any kind of diminishing of sin if your affections have not been turned towards God and away from Satan and the devil and his ways and sin if you don't despise it but you love it but you enjoy it this isn't repentance this is empty resolution this is leaving some sins for other sins okay in light of that we need to examine ourselves we need to pray to God like David did in Psalm 139 turn there real quick I want to show you this Psalm 139 this is the prayer this is the the request to God from a truly penitent man a truly broken man
[19:09] Psalm 139 David wanted every kind of sin that he had in himself to die he didn't want to keep any of them verse 23 he says search me oh God and know my heart try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way search me he begged God expose me show me where I'm falling short let me see where the sin is in my heart let me see where I'm defaming you let me see where I'm dishonoring you let me see where my love is inferior for you try me know my anxious heart the ways in which I'm not trusting you see if there be any evil or wicked or harmful way in me and lead me in the path everlasting lead me in the way everlasting he wanted to walk in righteousness this is the true heart of any true believer they want to walk in obedience to Christ they love Jesus okay so those are the three things that I'm going to try to point out there for what repentance isn't but next we're going to move on to four things that repentance is number one repentance is seeing one's sin repentance is seeing one's sin getting excited
[20:39] Paul's commission by Christ was to open their eyes it says this in Acts 26 God said Jesus said to them open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God that was Paul's commission that was his responsibility in the Lord was to turn help them to see their sin help them to turn away from it from those ways of darkness and to light to Christ this is our salvation and this is our mission that's the heart of it we saw our sin for what it really was and we hated ourselves for it if you're a Christian in here you saw your sin one day and you hated it you despised the thought of it that you would do something so heinous to somebody you love so much and then you saw Jesus and your heart burst with love for him because you saw him on his cross you saw him bloodied and battered and beaten down and killed and destroyed and the wrath of God poured out upon him for your sake and he became your savior and you became his slave and his son repentance begins with the recognition of sin this is where it starts there's a lot of different levels to repentance
[22:02] I simply thought of repentance before I was doing all this study as just turning away from sin that is one of many aspects of it okay the first part of it is recognizing one's sin seeing it for what it really is the prodigal son some of you guys know this story some of you may not I'll tell you to you briefly there was a son a younger son and an older son the younger son was known as the prodigal son which means kind of like wayward basically he was really probably know what a prodigal is it's kind of a common term so anyway he was he was a prodigal and he asked for his father's inheritance before his father had died so basically that was like saying dad you're dead to me give me my money I'm taking off so he gets the inheritance the father gives it to him freely he runs off and does what's in the bible is called loose living that's a very 2000 year ago kind of term for that loose living and then sure enough finds himself poor and impoverished and in a puddle of mud with some pigs and he's like
[23:05] I gotta get back to my father's house not as a son but maybe just as a servant I can get some food that way I'm starving to death so he goes back to his father and he says to him father please forgive me for what I've done to you in a sense he says I'm not worthy to be called your son please hire me as a servant so we see actually in Luke 15 17 this whole thing is accounted that the penitent this prodigal came to his senses in the scriptures came to his senses or came to himself so he recognized or he saw himself in that moment as a sinner and nothing but a sinner ok that was the turning point for this man that's what made him that's what gave him the humility to go back to his father and to ask to become his servant he came to himself he saw himself rightly we must know we must learn and know from this passage that we are reprobates that we are wicked that we are cast away that we are not of God apart from Christ that's what I want you to learn from that we must see ourselves as God sees us
[24:22] Thomas Watson said this the eye is made both for seeing and for weeping sin must be first seen before it can be wept for so the prodigal having come to his senses says what this is in Luke 15 21 father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight I am no longer worthy to be called your son he saw his sin as an offense against God first he says I have sinned against heaven but then he also saw it as a sin against his dad on earth his sin was bitter because he in that moment realized or he saw how unworthy he was of his father's compassion it was bitter because of that reality he didn't deserve it it was humbling for him to even ask that question he had done so much wrong to his father so much evil so much harm dishonored him so in the same way we must be deeply humbled and I would even question whether or not you have truly repented if you've never been deeply humbled like this man once was understanding that you're the prodigal in this scenario understanding that you did not love
[25:32] Christ in this scenario so be deeply humbled by your sin against God and you can say that you have repented Romans 2 4 says do you think lightly of the riches of God's kindness and his forbearance and his patience not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance okay so it's the kindness of God it's the patience of God it's not the wrath of God it's not the fear of God it's the kindness and the patience and the love of God that's going to lead you to repentance so hopefully you don't think you're worthy of the fattened calf like the elder brother did of God's love and forgiveness and if you do you're still blind in your sin you haven't seen it rightly you don't understand your offense against your father one author said the sinner knows not his own heart nor what a hell he carries about him under a veil a deformed face is hidden people are veiled over with ignorance and self-love they see not what they see not what deformed souls they have the devil the devil does with them as the trainer with the hawk he covers their eyes and carries them put into hell okay in second corinthians four paul talks about how satan is the one that blinds people to the light of the knowledge of the glory of christ that's his function that's what he does that's what he's good at as he blinds you to the reality of the glory of christ okay if you're a sinner or if you're a saint if you've been saved by god satan is still doing this by leading you into sin sure enough you are blinded again not blinded completely but you're it's like you're contracting cataracts or something i mean you are really literally like your vision is getting worse for christ because you're allowing all this slime of sin to cover you that's what sin does to you it keeps you from seeing christ in a pure way blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god that's my favorite beatitude blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god number two repentance is sorrow over one's sin repentance is sorrow over one's sin turn to james 4 real quick james 4 verse 9 and 10 it says this be miserable and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourselves in the presence of the lord and he will exalt you be miserable be mourning be weeping that's not what i would normally characterize the spiritual life of a christian has but we probably should more than we do and let me just take this opportunity i should have said this earlier i really feel like i shouldn't be up here talking about this because i in a lot of ways fall short in this area of my life i said it last i said it two weeks ago when i spoke that the fact that i don't cry over the sin that i commit as often as i should the fact that i rarely have fears in my eyes and i rarely have a spirit that could be defined as mourning is a testimony to the fact that i'm i'm seared in my conscience in many ways and though there are times when of course i'm more sensitive than others i'm certainly not perfect and i certainly don't understand how good my god is and how gracious he's been and i don't wake
[29:33] up with the gospel just piercing my mind every morning it's got to be something i need a lot of prayer for i understand a lot i understand very little of this godly sorrow and so i think that we should pray for one another in this way we should ask god to just give us a better appretention of the sorrow that we should have as christians christ was a man of many sorrows and well acquainted with grief it says that in isaiah i believe so we should be like him in that way so you see there's a certain sorrow in scripture that is so pure that is so god centered that is so christ exalting that is so self crucifying that the world can't emulate this okay the world can't emulate what this godly sorrow actually is what it does to the person it isn't child's play either it's not a simple little work it's it's it's warrior work um it's deep contrition of your heart and of your mind desires so badly for christ to be honored that anything contrary or anything defaming to jesus is despised it's like if you have spiders on your back and somebody tells you you're not aware of it and then they then you see them you shoo them off you're freaked out by it right that's what sin should be like to us i hate spiders that's why i like saying i mean that's that's a good illustration for me because i hate spiders so sin should be like spiders i guess in a sense sorry if you like spiders um what frogs yeah same yeah same thing i hate any kind of insect or small thing like that uh but sorrow is also unique in other ways sorrow is also unique in that it brings comfort it brings comfort godly comfort psalm 126 says this in verse 5 those who sow in tears shall reap in joy those who sow in tears shall reap in joy thomas watson said the penitent sinner has a wet sowing time but a delicious harvest he has a wet sowing time but a delicious harvest he sows and it's rainy and it's wet and it's miserable but then he reaps and the harvest is plentiful and bountiful and that's exactly what christ and the fruits of the spirit should be like to us sow in tears reap in joy some of you may say why should i be sorrowful though you may ask that why should i be sorrowful like what's to be sorrowful about we have christ right we have the holy spirit right we have you know forgiveness right like you know i know i sin every now and again but i mean what should i be truly sorrowful about why should i cry anymore in light of all the things that god's done for me isn't the gospel supposed to liberate me from all this sadness let me give you an illustration suppose this is a weird illustration i thought of this today and this is strange but suppose there was a woman who fervently and passionately loved her husband okay and this woman's husband was crucified till death in front of her she saw the whole thing the whole bloody thing it was gut-wrenching this woman loved to read the newspaper okay she was then told that if she ever again read the newspaper that she would be forced to relive that moment second for second if she ever didn't read the newspaper again she would in a sense crucify her husband afresh okay what kind of a sadistic
[33:33] fool would she have to be to pick up a newspaper and read it what if i told you that sin is the newspaper and christ is the husband seems ridiculous in that analogy so would those of you who love christ still persist in sin how could us how could we right persist in sin read a newspaper and relive that no it's a sorrowful thing how can we trade such a lesser pleasure like reading a newspaper for such a for such a greater torment well we do all the time and it's a sorrowful sorrowful thing it is only when the woman realizes that the reliving of that moment is a nightmare it's a dream it's a nightmare it's not reality and that the actual event of her beloved husband's death is many years in the past that she finds any comfort but not only comfort she finds joy because then she realizes that her husband's death while very tragic was sacrificial and it secured their union in the next life for all eternity never to be separated again so Christ likewise purchased us with his own blood so that we might forever enjoy him and his love so why go back to the newspaper
[35:17] Peter says why go back to the vomit it's so stupid it's not worth it but when we do sin and this is the reason why it's worthy of sorrow is because we are in a sense saying God you are not satisfying God I care more for my selfish sin in this moment than I do for your glory and I do for your cross which you bore on my behalf I prefer that over you and it's shameful to him and it should be shameful to us and it's in a sense like we're crucifying Christ afresh with that kind of a life I mean the Hebrews writer says it himself it's like if you can do this willingly there's no repentance for you you can't be saved it's impossible to renew this person to repentance if they can willingly mindfully crucify Christ afresh and so of course we can't keep doing this true repentance is sorrow over one sin because sin is the nails that hung
[36:26] Christ the cross that's why it's sorrowful we should hate it more than we do I should hate it more than I do I should be crying right now you should be crying right now we should be praying to God right now we should be praising him we should be begging him for more mercy don't but I bet you that if you got closer to Christ by his word by prayer that you'd find it harder to sin that you'd find it easier to love him to think of him to appreciate him to enjoy him to tell others about him so we need him thirdly repentance is confessing one's sin repentance is confessing one's sin one author said this sorrow vents itself or expresses itself at the eyes by weeping and at the tongue by confession when godly sorrow desires to express itself it sounds something like the tax collector from luke 18 he bowed his head he wouldn't even look up to heaven he's beating his breast repetitively he's mourning over what he had done and he yells out and he says god be merciful to me a sinner the sinner the tax collector jesus spoke of wasn't willing to look up to heaven because he was so ashamed of!
[38:09] he had done he was beating his breast in anguish he was ashamed he was broken he was humbled and god did not despise him did he jesus said this i tell you this man this tax collector went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled but he who humbles himself shall be exhausted confessions is expression of the heart true confession is true expression of the heart you are not saved because you said something out loud maybe some of you in here have trusted in that you you have spoken a prayer out loud you have recited something after somebody else has said hey say this prayer all the time on television say this prayer with me if you pray this prayer with a genuine heart then you will be saved I'm really weary of things like that you're not going to be saved because you said something out loud angels don't rejoice in heaven because you use the proper salvation wording and vernacular angels rejoice in Christ
[39:16] Jesus smiles because accused sinners see Jesus cross and they cling to it they cry out to God save me from my sin in the son they beg God for repentance as if he's the only thing that they could ever have this brings God glory the confession which points the finger to Christ and it says not me not me don't look at me in my sin look at him look at Christ accept his work on my behalf have mercy on me because you didn't on him that kind of a!
[39:55] confession! is pleasing to God a deep trust in Christ on the other hand the confession which says something like God I hear that your son Jesus Christ died for me and that if I pray this prayer genuinely then and if I stop drinking and if I stop smoking then I can have peace with you and I can be forgiven of my sin and so please forgive me and I trust in you amen that's light hearted it's silly it's not real that's hell bound impersonation that is a what I like to call a non pardoned parrot!
[40:50] reciting something after somebody else doesn't have the forgiveness of Christ let me give you a few characteristics of genuine confession number one genuine confession is voluntary it's voluntary true confession is not forced out of you like a POW being tortured for information okay it's offered up freely like the prodigal the prodigal wasn't near his father wasn't even close he was in a pigsty with mud and stuff and he comes to his senses he realizes his offense he's broken by it and he comes back humbly and he says even in the moment in the pigsty he's like I just want to go back and become a servant it's humility it's voluntary he comes of his own accord he wasn't forced to do that I was a very shameful thing to do even to show his face back in the same town was not kosher not cool at all so confession is voluntary secondly confession is sincere it's sincere hypocrites confess sin all the time but they still love their sin like a drunk driver who commits vehicular homicide then confesses to the crime and then after he gets out of prison drinks and drives again people do this all the time they're caught in the acrobes like we said earlier they make some profession they confess it but it's not genuine you find them the next week doing the very same thing no change is taking place and salvation isn't you becoming a better person you going from bad to good salvation is you becoming alive from a dead state salvation is you becoming transformed from a totally from one creation to another salvation
[42:52] I'd like to tell this story my dad is here he likes to hear this story so before your salvation think of yourself as a fish okay you're a fish you swim in the water your natural habitat is the water you breathe in through water you have gills and all that stuff okay that's where you exist that's your habitat then miraculously you are saved and god creates you anew into a human being no longer any gills now I live in the land I breathe in air I eat of the fruit of the land that's where I live that's where I exist that's where I have my habitat that's the new creation in Christ is this human being okay now you can choose for a time to go back into the water I can go swimming I can go into water hold my breath like a minute but I gotta come back out I don't have the ability to live in the water anymore okay likewise a
[43:53] Christian true Christians can sin they can go back into the water and swim around for a time and even dunk their heads for a while but you can't live there you can't exist there you've gotta get out and breathe and eat okay so it's sincere the truer Christian confesses his sin and abhors it the reason why Christian can't go back in the water is because he hates the water and he loves Jesus number three it's specific or particular you can say the one true confession is specific confessing you were a sinner in a general!
[44:43] way is! there's no weight to it it's like saying yeah I've done bad things when really you're a psychopathic serial murderer I've done bad things though yeah you've done bad things but I could say I've done bad things but I'm not a psychopathic serial murderer when you get specific about it it kind of puts some weight to it okay a genuine Christian confesses his sin specifically he wants to be 143 whatever right you confess your sins specifically so that God can get more glory Christ can be exalted in your life you can feel the gospel bearing down upon you the blessings of God overflowing on your life I mean the more I understand my sin the more I appreciate my savior right it's the same thing one author said this as it is with the wounded man who comes to the surgeon and he shows him all of his wounds here
[45:53] I was cut in the head there I was shot in the arm so a mournful sinner confesses the various sins of his soul God heals! in specific ways God heals in specific ways He says repetitively in scripture that when you confess your sin to one another when you pray with one another that there's healing in that that's implying you confess specific sins not hey man I'm in sin today okay let's pray about that God forgive him for his sin alright we're good to go no it's it's a confession and in that confession there's found freedom because in that freedom or in that confession you find that Christ has indeed freed!
[46:39] therefore true confession is an expression of the heart work that is done by the spirit it happens first in our conversion and then for the rest of our lives in our sanctification the Christian life is a life of repentance it's a life of repentance you begin in repentance and you end in repentance and you repent all in between Colossians I think 2 6 says that just in the same ways you receive Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him how did you receive Christ well you repented of your sins and you had faith in Christ that's how you live the rest of your Christian life it's very simple number four lastly almost done repentance is turning from one sin repentance is turning from one sin apple trees bear apples so godly repentance bears godliness this is the aspect of repentance that we can see all the other qualities of repentance take place in the heart and this one takes place in the life
[47:47] John the Baptist came preaching this kind of repentance he said this therefore bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance he is not saying that repentance is a work repentance is not a work in and of itself repentance is about as much of a work as faith is you don't work faith faith is given to you and that bears fruits through that so repentance is a work of Christ the work of the spirit in your heart that when you respond to produces fruits produces a change in your life literally repentance is a turning around it's like an about face for those of you in the military it's a turning around 180 degrees and going a different direction so in fact repentance when
[48:49] John says this he is saying that you are truly repenting from your sin and you are clinging to the love and the appreciation of Christ in faith and you will exercise this new faith in the death of your sin or in a turning away from your sin and in the beginning of obedience to Christ repentance and faith work hand in hand one turns you away one propels you way aspect of it right the key aspect of it and next week we'll discuss the propelling forward how we walk in faith how we look to Christ in faith Thomas Watson again wrote this there is a change wrought in the life turning from sin is so visible that others may discern it therefore it is called a change from darkness into light Paul after he had seen the heavenly vision was so different that all men wondered at the change they were confused in
[49:53] Acts 9 21 repentance changed the jailer into a nurse and a servant Acts 16 33 he took the apostles and he washed their wounds and he set food before them a ship is going eastward there comes a wind which turns it westward likewise a man was turning hellward before the contrary wind of the spirit blew turned his course and caused him to sail heavenward end quote okay so once we were on this path towards unrighteousness towards hell and when Christ saved you he says this in Colossians 1 13 he took you out of the domain of darkness and he freed you to the kingdom of his beloved son he took you out of the way in which you were going and he put you in this new way in which we now walk turning away from sin is dying to sin it's living in repentance we are Christ and he is our God and we need to be preparing ourselves for him
[50:54] I have a good friend of mine that always says that we need to be preparing ourselves for Christ when he comes she's a girl so it's more like a husband wife thing for her she wants to be ready when Jesus comes back likewise we need to be ready when he comes back and this is the way that we do that this is from Romans 13 I'm going to kind of elaborate it a little bit Paul says this the day of our salvation is near today than it ever has been before you realize that the day of our salvation the day of our glorification the day of our union with Christ is closer today than ever it has been before closer right now in this moment than it ever will be in the past the night is almost gone the day is at hand let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light let us behave properly as Christ deserves as in the day not in carousing not in drunkenness not in sexual promiscuity!
[51:58] not in sensuality not in strife not in jealousy but put on the Lord Jesus Christ aka be filled with his joy be showered with his blessings be consumed with his glory be convinced of his truth be fearless for him and pray always to him and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust let's pray God I know that I barely grace the surface of this doctrine and that there's so much more for us to learn and know God I confess that I do a really poor job of repenting of my sin and I confess that often times in the midst of my sin I kind of just yawned away or I say a couple of words that I've learned from other people and I don't genuinely get on my knees and get on my face and wrestle with you in repentance and
[52:59] I don't genuinely believe that God I have sinned against the holy God I don't really comprehend that in the moment like I should so God I pray that you please bestow upon these people and bestow upon me just an understanding a deeper understanding of what it means to truly repent what it means to truly turn to Christ and to turn away from our sins and to just love on the Lord in a way that is really pleasing to Him God you've purchased us you've bought us with your own blood and you've set us free that we could love you that we could live for you that we could worship you and we as we should so God thank you Father for just the mercy that you show us and the compassion and the patience it's so much and I'm just so thankful God please just give yourself glory through the rest of the things we do tonight through our hearts and our minds as we leave and just through the rest of our activities the rest of this week
[54:03] Lord be with us as we go we love you we trust you for all these things in Christ name!