TRUE REPENTANCE

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: ACTS 26:13-20




INTRODUCTION:


  1. A person cannot be genuinely saved without genuine repentance.
  2. One of the reasons our churches (even our fundamental churches) are filled with unsaved people is because there is a real lack of understanding of what it means to repent from sin.
  3. I know a missionary named Angel Espada who was "converted and baptized" four years before he was saved. Any preacher could tell similar stories – I’ve heard many and seen many – right in my own church.
  4. It is impossible to separate repentance from faith. Someone once asked a preacher, "What comes first – faith or repentance?" and the preacher replied, "If John Smith walks through the door, who comes through first – John or Smith?"
  5. "Believe" is one side of the coin and "repent" is on the other. Some people mistakenly believe that repentance only follows conversion – but in fact, repentance is a necessary part of salvation, and without repentance there is no genuine salvation (cf. Luke 13:1-5; Acts 20:21).
  6. A number of years ago a murderer was convicted and sentenced to death. The murderer’s brother was rich and influential and was able to persuade the governor to grant his brother’s pardon. It was agreed that he would go and visit his brother in prison and deliver the good news personally.
  7. After greeting his imprisoned brother, he said, "What would you do if you were to receive a pardon?" The brother replied: "The first thing I would do would be to track down the judge who sentenced me, and murder him; and the next thing I would do is track down the eye witness who testified against me and murder him too!"
  8. The brother turned around and left the prison with the pardon still in his pocket – there can be no pardon without repentance!
  1. THE FIRST STEP: SINNERS NEED TO HAVE THEIR EYES OPENED (ACTS 26:18)
    1. As a Bible preacher, my responsibility is to open men’s eyes – people are lost without Christ, they are spiritually blind, in spiritual darkness – they are brainwashed by Satan (26:18).
    2. Most unsaved people do not realize their need for salvation – their eyes must be opened to the things of God – i.e., the fall of man, the judgment of God, heaven and hell, the substitutionary death of Christ, His resurrection from the dead, the new birth, and repentance (Luke 5:30-32).
    3. So the first step is for sinners to have their eyes opened by the Spirit of God and through the Word of God. Their eyes are already open to worldly things – money, worldly pleasures, the World Series and other sporting events (sports is #1 religion in America today), Hollywood, TV, rock music. Whenever I am waiting in line at the supermarket I am always amazed at these silly women reading those stupid papers. You just know they never read the Bible, and when you give them a Gospel tract they look at you like you have two heads or something!
    4. People are in darkness and must have their eyes opened by the Holy Spirit (cf. II Tim.2:24-26).
  1. THE NEXT STEP: THEY MUST TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS (26:18).
    1. For lost sinners to get saved, they must turn "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" (26:18).
    2. The great Baptist preacher of 19th century England, C.H.Spurgeon used to preach, "It is either turn or burn" – how little we hear of this today. Instead today we hear garbage like the "4 spiritual laws" or "confessions of a beer drinker."
    3. Over 100 years ago, R. A. Torrey said: "There surely is not the emphasis laid upon repentance in modern preaching that there is in the Bible" (What the Bible Teaches, p. 353). If he felt that way 100 years ago, what about today? In this day of blasphemous bumper-stickers like "Christ is the Real Thing" – as if the Lord Jesus Christ was a soft drink! In this day of "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" – oh yeah, what is this wonderful plan, eternity in the lake of fire? In this day of TBN and the so-called "Christian Broadcasting Network," which is filled with worldly nonsense and idiotic sitcoms and rock music and women wearing tons of make-up and wearing pants; and sissy-looking men – there is no repentance, there is no fear of God, there is no holiness – therefore it is not genuine Christianity!
    4. We need to get back to what the Bible says. The prophet Ezekiel said: "Thus saith the Lord; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations" (Ezek.14:6). The prophet Zechariah said: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech.1:3).
    5. The prophet Jeremiah said: "Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return? Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, have refused to return. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness" (Jer.8:4-6).
    6. John the Baptist said: "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matt.3:8).
    7. There was a thief in Miami who broke into a church and stole a tape recorder. Later on he called up the pastor to apologize and told him he wanted to return the tape recorder. He played the tape that was in the tape player and it was a message on repentance! He got under conviction and got right with God!
    8. Salvation has three aspects:
        1. Past – "ye turned to God from idols" (I Thess. 1:9).
        2. Present – "to serve the living and true God" (I Thess.1:9b).
        3. Future – "And to wait for His Son from heaven" (I Thess.1:10). Without all three aspects, there cannot be genuine salvation.
    9. There are many false ideas concerning repentance:
      1. Repentance is not Romish "penance." To a Romanist this means atoning for your own sins – this is contrary to the Bible. For example, a while back a RC murderer named Grasso said he wished to be executed so that he could atone for his sins – but only the death of the Lord Jesus Christ can atone for sin.
      2. Repentance is not remorse though true repentance includes remorse.
      3. Repentance is not restitution although true repentance will include restitution. The story of Zaccheus is a good illustration of this.
      4. Repentance is not mere self-reformation, but when there is genuine repentance, there will be a genuine change in a person’s life.
    1. We were looking at three steps involved in genuine repentance, as seen in Acts 26:18:
      1. The first step: sinners need to have their eyes opened;
      2. the second step is that they must turn from their sin.
      3. Now, I would like to wrap this up by finishing this verse.
  1. THE THIRD STEP: THAT THEY MIGHT RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS (26:18)
    1. Maybe you thought that you have already had forgiveness of sins because you prayed a "sinners prayer" or because you confessed to a priest or because you went down to the Louis Farrakan "Day of Atonement" fiasco or done everything except what the Bible teaches – REPENT FROM YOUR SIN!
    2. Listen, friend, a sick man cannot be healed unless he first acknowledges that he is sick; a drowning man cannot be rescued until he realizes that he is going under; a lost man cannot receive directions until he admits that he is lost. It is the same way in the spiritual realm. The Bible 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" (Isa.55:7).

CONCLUSION:

  1. 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."
  2. When he came to himself he climbed out of the pigpen and got things right with his father.
  3. Friend, if you are still slopping around in the devil’s pigpen, then chances are you have never been genuinely saved. Are you still running around with worldly people, still listening to worldly music ("Christian rock"), watching dirty TV and movies? Do you smoke and drink and use bad language and buy lottery tickets? If you can say yes to some of these things, let me remind you of what the Lord Jesus Christ said: "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."


| Customized by Jun Gapuz |