1. We have here an interesting parable. I want you to mark two words in verse 32 -- "repented not."
2. Hell is full of respectable people who "repented not" -- church members, doctors, nurses, lawyers, school teachers, businessmen, accountants, carpenters and plumbers.
3. Meanwhile there will be "publicans and harlots" (21:31) in heaven because they repented, but the respectable sinners did not repent (21:32).
4. This parable was directed at "the chief priests and the elders of the people" (21:23), the religious leaders who rejected John the Baptist, our Lord's forerunner.
5. Matthew 3:7 and 8 says that when John the Baptist saw some of these religious leaders, he said unto them, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance."
6. But they "repented not." And these same men who rejected John the Baptist also rejected the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Matthew 21:23-27).
7. Our Lord answered their question with a question. They were on the horns of a dilemma (21:25-27), and so they refused to answer.
8. And then our Lord gave this parable about repentance.

I. TO REPENT MEANS TO CHANGE ONE'S MIND

1. Notice the first son said to his father, "I will not," but afterward he repented, and went (Matt. 21:29).
2. He changed his mind and went. Repentance always begins with a change of mind.
3. One of the best pictures of repentance is found in Luke 15:11-24, the story of the prodigal son. Notice in particular verse 17 – "And when he came to himself."
4. This means he changed his mind. When he came to himself he climbed out of the pigpen and got things right with his father.
5. This young man, known as the "prodigal son," came to himself. There are some young people here today who need to do the same thing.
6. You are making decisions today that have eternal consequences. Unless you repent your life will be marked by disgrace and shame and failure and misery. For some it could mean eternity in hell.
7. Some of you will spend eternity in hell unless you repent. Our Lord said in Luke 13:3 and 5, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
8. There are many people that have been ensnared by the devil. They need to repent before the devil completely destroys them (cf. II Timothy 2:24-26).
9. Notice the words in verse 25: "if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."
10. In John 8:44 our Lord said the devil is a liar, and the father of it. The devil has confused the minds of sinners, and blinded their minds.
11. To repent means to change your mind. Isaiah 55:7 says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
12. The wicked man must not only forsake "his way," but also "his thoughts." He needs to change his thinking. A change of mind leads to a change of direction -- that is genuine repentance.
13. The son in Matthew 21:29 showed genuine repentance because he "went."
14. On the day of Pentecost, Peter exhorted his Jewish listeners to repent, i.e., to change their minds about who Jesus was (Acts 2:22-38).
15. The Jews assembled together for the feast were pricked in their heart as Peter preached the Gospel to them.
16. Under great conviction by the Holy Spirit, they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37).
17. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent..." (Acts 2:38).
18. To repent means to change your mind. Most people's minds have been confused by the devil. The apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 11:3, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
19. And then in verse 14, "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."
20. Paul Harvey (1918 -- 2009) said this on his daily radio program back in 1965:

    If I were the devil, I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree—Thee. So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first—I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to pray after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’

    
    

    And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors on how to lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.

    
    

    If I were the devil I’d soon have families that war with themselves, churches that war that themselves, and nations that war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flame. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, and neglect to discipline emotions—just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.

    
    

    Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography—soon I could evict God from the courthouse, and then the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.

    
    

    If I were the devil I’d take from those, and who have, and give to those wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. What do you bet I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would question against extremes and hard work, and Patriotism, and moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were to devil I’d keep on doing on what he’s doing.

21. The devil is a deceiver. Revelation 12:9 says "Satan...deceiveth the whole world." He deceives peoples' minds.
22. Repentance means to change your mind. The repentant thief changed his mind about who Jesus is. According to Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32, both thieves were railing on our Lord and insulting Him.
23. But one of the thieves repented, and he said to the impenitent thief, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?" (Luke 23:40).
24. The fear of God came upon the repentant thief!

II. TO REPENT MEANS TO BE SUBMISSIVE TO THE WILL OF GOD

1. In Matthew 21:31, our Lord asked the chief priests and elders, "Whether of them twain did the will of his father?"
2. God has a perfect will. Man has his own will, and these two are often in conflict.
3. In our Lord's parable, the father gave simple instructions: "Son, go work to day in my vineyard" (Matt. 21:28).
4. The first son answered and said, "I will not" (21:29). This is man's problem. God gives instructions and man says, "I will not."
5. However, this first son repented and went (21:29b).
6. The second son answered and said, "I go, sir: and went not" (21:30).
7. What confusion! What disobedience! His words were words of obedience, but his refusal to go contradicted his words.
8. I know many people like that! They say they are Christian but they give no evidence of it.
9. I have met many people who say, "I will attend church regularly...I will start reading my Bible every day...I will pray and have devotions every day, etc."
10. Like that second son, they say, "I go, sir," but they never get going (21:30).
11. When our Lord asked them "Whether of them twain did the will of his father?" they correctly answered, "The first."
12. Our Lord was pointing out that publicans and harlots were repenting and getting saved, but the religious leaders would not repent (21:31, 32).
13. To repent means to obey God and to be submissive to His will.
14. Our Lord said in Matthew 7:21, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
15. Weak, watered-down preaching, sloppy evangelism, inaccurate Bible translations, and slick, worldly television preachers have produced a generation of church members (and many seldom even attend church services) who give little evidence of being genuinely born again.
16. Many profess Jesus Christ as their Lord, but like the second son in our Lord's parable, they don't do what He says. Our Lord said in Luke 6:46, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"
17. Repentance is a change of mind which leads to a change in direction. A.C Dixon said, "In repentance you think of the sin you hate; in faith you think of the Christ you love.”
18. To repent means to submit to Christ's authority (cf. Matt. 21:23, 24). This is often referred to as the Lordship of Christ -- "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).

III. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REPENTANCE AND FAITH

1. Some people are confused over the doctrine of repentance. They mistakenly believe that in order to be saved it is not necessary to repent. They say faith alone is all you need to get to heaven.
2. However, according to Scripture, faith and repentance are two sides to the same coin.
3. The apostle Paul said in Acts 20:21, "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. Acts 26:17-20).
4. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Repentance is the inseparable companion of faith.  All the while that we walk by faith and not by sight, the tear of repentance glitters in the eye of faith.  That is not true repentance which does not come of faith in Jesus, and that is not true faith in Jesus which is not tinctured with repentance. Faith and repentance, like Siamese twins, are vitally joined together.”
5. Second Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
6. This means, the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should believe the Gospel and be saved. According to the Bible, there are only two options: repent or perish.
7. Repentance and faith cannot be separated. Genuine faith includes repentance, and genuine repentance includes faith. Repentance means a change of mind.  And this leads to a change in direction.
8. The sinner was against God – at enmity with God – the wrath of God was abiding on him.  But now he has repented!  Now he has changed sides.  Now he loves God and hates sin.  Now he agrees with God.
9. Like Job, he says, "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6).
10. Repentance is part of the Great Commission, for in Luke's account of the Great Commission, we read, "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47).
11. Harry Ironside had the great privilege of hearing General Booth preach. Many people thought General Booth's objective was to clean up the slums of England. But that was not his primary objective. His primary objective was winning sinners to Christ.
12. Ironside later wrote these words: "I recall hearing William Booth, the first general of the Salvation Army say, when explaining his 'Darkest England' scheme, that its real objective was, not just the amelioration of social conditions, but first and foremost the bringing of men to repentance that their souls might be saved. I can recall the flash in his eye, and the noble bearing of his commanding figure as he exclaimed, 'Take a man from the filth and squalor of the slums, exchange his rags for decent clothing, move him from the stifling stench of the city tenement to a neat little cottage in the pure air of the country, put him on his feet economically where he can make a decent living for himself and his family, and then let him die in his sins, unsaved, and be lost forever at last -- really it is not worth while, and I, for one, would not attempt it.'"
13. William Booth was following in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets, like Jonah, who preached repentance. Jonah said to the wicked citizens of Nineveh, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown" (Jonah 3:4).
14. Jesus said in Matthew 12:41, "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here."
15. John the Baptist preached repentance. Matthew 3:1 and 2 says, "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."
16. Here in Matthew 21:32, our Lord says, "For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."
17. The publicans and harlots believed and were saved. The chief priests and the elders did not believe, and they "repented not" (Matthew 21:32).

CONCLUSION:

`Tis not enough to say

I’m sorry and repent

And then go on from day to day

Just living as we went.

Repentance is to leave

The sins we loved before

And show that we did earnest grieve

By doing them no more.