But first – if you were asked to characterize my ministry; if you were asked to characterize my preaching, how would you answer? That would not be an easy question, at least for me. I wouldn’t envy you that responsibility. But that is somewhat like what is recorded here in verse 2 in regard to the forerunner-ministry of John. I’m sure that he preached about many things – specific things – doctrinal things – expositional messages. But when Matthew was led of the Spirit to summarize his ministry he wrote of only two points – “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand” – which we study on another day. In essence that boiled down to this – “the King is nearing His coronation day; get ready.” In relation to that John’s primary message was – “get ready – through repentance.”
Once again, I take up an old, old theme. “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” If that message was good enough for the man whom the Lord Jesus described as … “among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist…” then it ought to be good enough for the rest of us. It has been the theme of every true servant of God who ever stood upon a pulpit, including the Lord Jesus. “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Repentance was the theme of Enoch and Noah in the very early days, and of Isaiah and Jeremiah later. It was the message of Peter, James, John and the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. The greatest preachers since close of gospel have all demanded repentance before God. If those men heard much of the most common preaching today, they’d be checking their GPS to see what planet they were on. Imagine Noah standing on the bow of the ark, shouting “Something good is going to happen to you today, because Jesus loves you.” Picture Jeremiah just before they threw him into the pit promoting his new book “I’m OK; you’re OK.” And how about Jonah entering the gates of Ninevah declaring, “Smile, God loves you! He has a wonderful plan for your life.” During the Tribulation when earthquakes, tsunami’s and falling rocks are crashing down on the wicked, the two witnesses will not be taking about “possibility thinking clearing away those mountains.” Their message, and John’s message was: “The times (your) ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
A moment ago, I quoted our Saviour when he said, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth… for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” “Go ye and LEARN what that meaneth” – that business about repentance.
I have no doubt that John Baptist urged, commanded, explained and taught what it meant to repent. Because that is a subject considered to be of great importance in heaven itself. What do suppose is the most attractive object on earth today – to residents of Glory? It’s not our architectural wonders: Taj Mahal, Solomon’s temple, the Eiffel Tower, or Caesar’s Palace. Nor is it our athletic feats; our music; our scientific advances or our technology. But neither God nor angel can pass by a human spirit panting in pain over its sin. “There is joy in presence of angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
I am not disturbed to teach once again about repentance, because it brings good hearts great joy. Rowland Hill used say that there is only one thing on earth he would miss when got to heaven. He correctly believed that once he got to glory he would completely cease to sin. If a person has no sin and does no sin, he will never need again to repent. Hill said that when he went Heaven he would miss that sweet, lovely sorrowful grace of repentance. And Spurgeon added, “I’m never more happy than when I am weeping for sin at foot of cross.” Did the first Baptist think the same sort of thoughts?
It doesn’t bother me to preach a subject again which is so essential to our souls. Some preachers rightly declare again and again the absolute necessity of faith in Christ. And while that is true repentance is just as necessary. Faith and repentance are the two sides of a single coin. To preach faith without repentance is trying to fly a Boeing 747 with only one win. If preachers refuse to proclaim repentance or to correctly teach it, they destroy both. Put a penny on rail-road track and both sides will be obliterated. Faith and repentance are siamese twins. If one is sick, the other of necessity cannot be well; they live one life. If one goes to the doctor, so does the other; if one goes to heaven, so does other. So John’s message was: “Repent and behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”
There are many people who think that they have repented of their sin, but who have not. Their understanding and definition of the subject are wrong. They are like some beginning language student trying to say something in a foreign language, but getting an important word wrong. Some things are embarrassing, but other mistakes can be deadly.
It is a common mistake to think that fleshly sorrow is the same thing as true repentance. There might have been a few Pharisees who made that mistake. By “sorrow,” I refer to “remorse” or “regret” that a sin was committed, or more particularly, some sin was recognized and the sinner was caught. Sometimes it is the detective of police who catches the man. And sometimes it is the man’s conscience which apprehends him. But sorrow for being caught in some sin is not the same thing as repentance. Of course, the classic example this kind of repentance can be found in Judas. “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” In one sense Judas repented, but it was not spiritual repentance, and it was not before God.
How close does Judas’ repentance come to Biblical repentance – the kind of which Jesus said, “Except ye repent ye shall likewise perish”? First, as a step in the right direction, it was an acknowledgment of sin. That he committed a crime worthy of hellish punishment there can be no doubt. He gave the Son of God over into the hands of murderers and blasphemers. He should have defended the Saviour, or at least offered to do so, but that wasn’t Judas’ plan. Later, he was right to acknowledge that he had sinned – but that was not repentance. Judas’ repentance, like those of the Pharisees who came to John, didn’t involve a life-change. It was a statement of obvious fact, like declaring the answer to a math problem. But not very many math answers actually indicate a change of life and heart. According to scripture, true confession of sin comes as product of repentance. They are not the same thing, and confession is not a good substitute for repentance. One is the child of the other; confession and godly sorrow, are born of repentance. John refused to baptize anybody who not already repenting and showing repentance’s fruit. Part, but only a part, of that fruit is sorrow for sin. There too many people who get caught in some sin and then think that their tears wash away the guilt. It didn’t work for Judas, and John wasn’t going to let the Jewish hypocrites get away with it either.
True repentance is a product of the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Paul counseled Timothy to be the kind of servant which the Lord could use in the ministry. “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” Repentance which comes from any other source but the Lord himself is not true repentance. “Know ye not that the goodness of God leadeth thee (step by step, step by step) to repentance?
What is more, fleshly sorrow actually produces death. That was all that it did for Judas, who went out and hanged himself. In II Corinthians Paul was talking about an earlier letter which he had written to that church. “Though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” John was working very hard to make sure that the sorrow of his listeners was not that of the flesh.
Godly sorrow is what the Holy Spirit produces in us as He convicts us of our sinfulness. It is one of the steps that leads to repentance and faith in Christ.
In actual fact, “penance” doesn’t even come close to what the Bible means when it speaks of “repentance.” It is not “self-mortification” – an inescapable crushing – which the Holy Spirit lays upon the sinner whom He is saving. True repentance grounds him to powder so that he no longer has a self-will to mortify. Repentance is the miracle of God which gives the sinner a heart and mind changed to fully agree with God about sin, righteousness and judgment. Neither John nor Christ Jesus never said, “Except ye preform acts of penance ye shall all likewise perish.” “Except ye repent…”
You could say that the difference between penance and repentance lies in their central location. Repentance is an act of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the sinner; it is internal. Penance, on the other hand, are external acts of designed to repair in part the damage that sin has done. You might say that Judas carried out the ultimate act of penance, but later scriptures declare that he is in hell today; his penance was fruitless.
Penance has to do with our actions in order to remove the stain of sin – according to Catholic doctrine. It is often the infliction of punishment on our flesh. It comes upon the orders of men, but it cannot to be found anywhere in the Bible. Repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit inside the sinner, which brings the heart and mind of the sinner into agreement with the will of the Holy God. From there fruit will be grown which proves the existence of the repentance and faith in Christ.
We could go on describing diff types of Satanic pseudo-repentances.
First of all repentance is spiritual, not fleshly, psychological, mental or worldly. It is a part of the new creation which only the omnipotence of God can produce. As dead men cannot run, jump or play volleyball, neither can the spiritually dead repent. There must be the working of the grace of the Lord first. How essential it is that Christians pray for the Lord to work in hearts of specific lost people.
Second, repentance is always pointed toward God, nothing else. In the question of salvation, everything depends on “from what” and “to what.” On what or whom do you believe, and towards what do you repent? Some think that repentance has reference to the Law of God. No, no the law is the instrument which the Holy Spirit uses to show us that we have offended Jehovah. Our repentance must be toward the Lord, and not toward the law. One old preacher said, “One might as well repent toward the jaws of crocodile as to the Law.” What would humbly repenting towards crocodile mean? It would mean death. I don’t care if you are submissive and sorrowful before that man-eater, you’re doomed. So it is with the law of God; it is designed to eat you, not cure you. And although it involves, you repentance isn’t about you it’s about you; it’s about your relationship with God. Our repentance must towards the Lord, who designed the law to condemn us. The focus must not be what we have done; repentance isn’t even negatively focused on the sinner.
Third, repentance leads to Christ by way of the road called “faith.” Although no man will see God in any attitude but wrath unless he repents, repentance, good or bad, has never saved single soul. My commission before you is to exhort you to repent toward God and to have faith toward the Lord – Christ. “By grace are ye saved, through faith,” which is built on the foundation repentance. “If you from sin are longing to be free, look to the lamb of God.” But make sure that your lookout position is on the ground of repentance.
And finally, repentance produces acceptable fruit in the penitent’s life. Fruits such as confession of sin and correction for the effects of sin. Fruit like the forgiveness of others who have trespassed against us. Fruit such as humility before God, and before the ministry of the Spirit. And true repentance produces more repentance. By that I mean that repentance is not a one time thing. Should we ever quit repenting? Not until we quit sinning and not before we are incapable of sinning. Is person saved by a single act of faith? Nor is his repentance a single act. Repentance is to leave the sin we loved before, and show that we in earnest grieve, by doing sin no more.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Have you done as John has commanded? Have you turned from your sins to trust in Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour?