In the sermon 'Of Repentance Unto Life and Salvation', Scott Brown explores the critical theme of repentance as the pivotal moment in a person's spiritual journey. It distinguishes between repentance unto salvation and ongoing repentance for sanctification, focusing on the former. The sermon outlines four acts of God's love towards sinners: extending evangelical grace, sending the Holy Spirit to instill a sense of sin, changing the sinner's self-image, and providing a new purpose. The process of repentance unto salvation is described as a transformation driven by God's power, where the sinner is drawn by the Spirit, leading to a newfound desire to live in accordance with God's will. The sermon emphasizes that true repentance is not just feeling remorse but involves a deep change in desires and actions, distinct from fake repentance that lacks godly sorrow. Through biblical references and analogies, Brown highlights the necessity of God's intervention and grace in bringing about genuine repentance and salvation.

Repentance, that word is a, it signifies a hinge point in a person's life. It's either a hinge point for the sinner, it's the hinge between light and darkness, life and death. For the Christian, it's the hinge point between blessing and sanctification and God's mercy poured out into your heart and all the healing that takes place. It's a hinge point either way. Now We've been studying in weeks past the confession, which is chapter 15 on repentance.

And we're going to deal with paragraph three only tonight. Just to give you a very quick review, Paragraph one makes this point perfectly clear. It's never too late to repent. It doesn't matter what you've done. It speaks about repenting in riper years.

It's a wonderful section. And the second paragraph is focusing on how God provides renewal for Christians who have fallen into sin and they, through repentance, are restored. And then the third paragraph, which we'll deal with tonight speaks of repentance unto salvation so it's a laser beam focus on this one hinge point of moving from darkness to light and It's it's the hinge point of repentance that transports one from one kingdom to another so this section or this this paragraph only focuses on this one thing It doesn't speak to the matter of continual repentance of the believer. It speaks of the repentance unto salvation only. And so it addresses what brings the unbeliever to repentance, first of all, and then what happens to that person once they are brought to repentance.

And I'd like to identify four acts of the love of God towards sinners who are who are caught in their sins, hopelessly caught without this power of God coming upon them. I'll state them right here and then we'll move through the paragraph. And remember, he's addressing saving repentance, not the ongoing repentance of the believer so if you're a believer this doesn't really describe what is happening to you now it happens what already happened to you And I think it's it's very helpful for two for two things first of all if you're a believer And you're witnessing to people you need to understand what it is that will bring people to repentance If you're an unbeliever and you're and you you wish you could repent of your sins, but you just can't seem to This will tell you why you can't and it will also tell you what will happen to you if you do So it does speak both to the believer and the unbeliever, but recognize the primary focus is repentance unto salvation, not repentance ongoing to sanctification. So there are four things that God does for sinners. First He extends grace.

He calls it an evangelical grace. And then secondly, He sends His Spirit. It's the Spirit of God that brings about a sense of sin and brings repentance. Then thirdly, he changes our view of ourselves. This is what happens to us.

We have a different self-image. God does that for the sinner. And then number four, he enlivens The repenter with a new purpose in other words. He wants different kinds of things so those are the four things that are called out in this section and The emphasis of this paragraph is the power of God upon those who will be saved and there there are many means that God uses to bring people to repentance that are identified here and he he does it in many ways I don't know If you've ever been with someone and you just don't know why they can't see it, and you appeal to them and appeal to them. Just recently I was with a friend for three hours and I just could not understand why he didn't see his state.

And the reason he didn't see his state is that he couldn't see it and we need to understand that that it really is a power of God and God you know God uses many means to bring us to salvation and the ones that are identified here are I think It assumes that God sends Prophets rising early as the Old Testament says to call those people out of their sins. Hebrews 1, 14 says that God even uses angels to minister to hardened sinners who will someday turn to Jesus Christ. It's an act of mercy of God. Now the first transformation that takes place in the repentance center is what is called an evangelical grace. It is an evangelical grace.

The idea here is that there is a gift from the heart of God granted to the sinner where he reaches out his hand. It is a grace. It's grace extended. If anybody repents, it's because grace was extended. An outstretched arm was there, and the sinner took that outstretched arm.

In the same way that, you know, if someone was sinking in the water drowning and you reached out their hand and you caught their hand It was an act of grace that that brought them out of their trouble in Acts chapter 11 verse 17 and 18 we read these words God has granted the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life God grants it he reaches he grants his hand to the sinner and that's why it's an evangelical grace that you know evangelical is is an act of reaching out. God reaches out to the sinner. That's the evangelical grace that God bestows. It is a gift from the Lord. That's why when we read in Romans chapter 2, his kindness leads us to repentance.

And that passage is not saying that God is just so nice, he's going to lead everybody to repentance. What that passage says is that everybody is bound to judgment, and the wrath of God is coming upon them and and but but there is something that God does to interrupt their trajectory toward hell his wrath is going to fall but but he is in his kindness he holds back his judgment and he waits so that that person will will be made to be at the place to reach out their hand and receive this evangelical grace. Now repentance is not a work that saves, it's a grace. Man is not saved by the work of repentance, but by the work of the Holy Spirit, this evangelical grace that causes that person to turn. And that's why we read in Peter's call to repentance, there's a demonstration of this.

Something happened to the people who were hearing him. And in Acts chapter 2 verses 37 and 38 something happened. They were pierced to the heart. This is this evangelical grace. Not only is a hand reached out, but a sword is reached out and pierces that heart.

And they did not do it for themselves. God pierced them. And it says this. Peter is preaching. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.

In other words, God cut them. He pierced them. And said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren What shall we do then Peter said to them repent and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." All of this is an act of piercing the heart and then giving the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is this evangelical grace. If you're with someone who doesn't know the Lord, one thing you must know, it is only that evangelical grace that can bring them to repentance.

You shouldn't get mad at them necessarily, but to recognize that they must have this evangelical grace. This is what is called by theologians monergistic regeneration. Mono meaning one and generation or energy that there is one agent doing the work there is one agent reaching out in evangelical grace synergistic regeneration which most evangelicals believe is that there are two agents involved that there's man's will and there is God's power this is Arminianism the Bible says very clearly that you are pierced to the heart and God brings you to repentance and and so in monogistic salvation God exerts His will You you can read about this this Exertion of God's will in many places in Jeremiah 31 31 You read these words I will put my law in their heart in that passage The word I will I will I will I will is repeated over and over again because it's an it's an act of God so You know the center center of Christianity is the power of the new birth where Jesus Christ reaches out in evangelical grace and he does it to sinners. You know, maybe some of you children understand what this is like when you receive grace from your parents, maybe you were doing the dishes one night and you had a very bad attitude because you did not want to do the dishes.

And you were throwing things around and you broke some of your mother's very nice China that she only puts out when visitors are there and and and instead of exercising her wrath she did not punish you but she she extended grace And our family knows someone who experienced this as a child and saw the grace of a mother. This is grace extended to someone who has committed an infraction against God. The whole matter here is that there is this evangelical grace that extends to the person And it changes the heart. God does the changing. You know, in the same way that none of us chose to be born, in the same way none of us chose to be born again.

Anybody in this room chose to be born? You figured out some day in eternity past you wanted to be born and you picked out these parents? Well, no, that didn't happen at all. You didn't choose to be born. God chose that you would be born to the parents that God gave you in the time and in the generation that He chose.

And it's the same movement of evangelical grace. It is something that God chooses. And so it's not a work of man. Ephesians 1 verse 4 speaks of it, 1 Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ, to himself, to the good pleasure of his will." And then in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1, We read again about God's power to save, and you, He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience." And he makes it very clear that, but it was God who was rich in mercy because of his great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved." So this is an evangelical grace of God.

There are many places in the Bible that speaks of this, but we must dispense with the idea that our salvation comes from anything that we did. It does not come from living a good life. It doesn't come from having right attitudes or becoming insightful about yourself. It does not come from anything that man does. And so, This first power of the love of God that's communicated in this confession is that there is an evangelical grace that is extended to a sinner.

So that's the first thing. The second transformation that takes place in the repentant sinner is that the Holy Spirit moves upon that sinner. And we learn that this is a work of the Spirit. And this makes it very clear that no one turns to Jesus Christ unless there's an external force moving upon them. And God exercises his authority in salvation through the power of his Holy Spirit.

The Lord Jesus Christ used a very vivid image to describe this. He spoke of the Holy Spirit as wind. And in John chapter 3, He said, the wind blows where it wishes. And you never know where the wind is going to blow. Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, and he said to Nicodemus, Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So everyone who is born of the Spirit. So the power of the Holy Spirit blows like a wind. You can't see the wind, but you can see what the wind does. And The salvation of a sinner is just like that you're not really sure exactly how it happened, but somehow the wind blew and and it changed everything and so God the Father as he exerts his Unstoppable will he begins to draw the believer to Jesus Christ, which is why Jesus said, No one comes to me unless the Father draw him.

This is the power of the Holy Spirit the Father is drawing sinners to Jesus Christ and to draw in in the context and in the language that that Jesus uses it literally means to drag or to pull by force. That the Father is dragging you to Him. You know, I had a very distinct sensation of this as God was drawing me. That I realized that God had just been drawing me over time and there was a time when I realized Lord I'm here I don't want that I want you but there was this drawing process that took place in my life. And it was the Father was drawing me to the Son.

And there were various evangelists around that explained to me the gospel as all of that was happening. And one question that you can ask an unbeliever is do you sense that God is in the process of dragging you to Jesus? Do you sense the pull? And because this is what God does, He draws the unbeliever and he is using the wind of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin. You know the Holy Spirit is a comforter to the believer but he is the discomforter to the unbeliever.

And he causes us to become disturbed about our lives, and we stop congratulating ourselves about things that we once congratulated ourselves about, because the Holy Spirit is beginning to minister to us. And so this drawing can take on a strong and almost a violent force. In fact, the same word is used when the Apostle Paul was stoned and then it says he was dragged out of the city. It's the same word that's used in the book of Revelation where the dragon dragged a third of the stars out of the sky. I mean, it can be a violent act to drag someone to Jesus Christ.

And sometimes he uses, you know, violent means. He brings a person into a time of great sin that is so devastating, and God uses that sin to literally drag him before Jesus Christ. And So it's the Holy Spirit that convicts the world of sin and judgment and of righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ said that in John 16 verse 8. So this repentance comes out of a recognition of sin that comes as a result of The work of the Holy Spirit by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin the Holy Spirit begins to show you the manifold evils of your sin and He pours out a spirit of of supplication and he grants you repentance and and this is all part of God drawing all of us to himself now The third transformation that takes place in the repentance center is that the unbeliever's self-image changes and the Spirit makes us think differently about ourselves.

And here it says that we are humbled with godly sorrow It said the spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of sin death by faith in Christ Humble himself for it with godly sorrow Detestation of it and Abhorrency so there's a there's a new humility that overcomes the unbeliever and he begins to sorrow for his sin And he begins to detest the sin, but it goes deeper than that. He begins to abhor himself, because he is connected with that sin. And while he looked at himself at the mirror with such joy before, he looks at himself in the mirror and he sees ugly because God brings him to that place that there's ugliness in there and we begin to see the ugliness that's in our life now if you don't have a sense of your ugliness inside you'll never know the power and the beauty of the holiness of God drawing you from the outside and This is the work of the Holy Spirit. He humbles by using various means He brings us to certain convictions about ourself I want you to notice how Emotionally charged these words are made sensible in other words Wow you're coming to your senses You have godly sorrow it actually makes you feel bad about yourself and about your sin Detestation of the sin Do you see this escalation of severity and then self-abhorrence?

It goes it goes deep it goes deep into your soul and you begin to abhor even yourself and it brings you to pray for pardon. So you have all these emotionally charged words that describe what happens to the sinner who's being drawn by the Lord. God brings them through these stages so that they can see who they really are. And you might illustrate it like with a magnifying glass. If you look at your hand through a magnifying glass from far away, It's just nothing but blurriness.

But if you bring it close, then you begin to see the lines. Then you begin to see what's really there. And that's what God does by His Holy Spirit. He brings you closer. He makes you sensible.

He opens your eyes so that you can see. Just like with a large magnifying glass, the closer you bring it, the clearer it gets. And that's what the Holy Spirit does. And That's really the value of bringing the Word of God to people who are lost because it helps them to see. You bring the Word of God before them and it is a lamp.

It's a light. And it helps them to see. And As that magnifying glass gets closer and closer, they get to a place where they see who they really are and they see the ugliness, but they also see the beauty of the Lord. This is what happens to sinners who actually repent. And they don't love their sin any longer.

They really want the goodness of God. Now there is an inauthentic or a fake repentance. There are people recorded all over scripture who came to a great sense of their sin, but they did not have what the Bible calls godly sorrow. Judas is one example. It says this in Matthew 27, Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.

And they said to him, what is that to us? You see to it. And he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. Often people feel very bad for their sins, but it's not godly sorrow. It's not the kind of repentance that the authors of this confession are speaking about.

Fake repentance is worried about the consequences. True repentance desires to please God and is Disturbed because God is offended fake repentance really only cares about what people think and And you see various examples of that in scripture. So the fourth transformation that takes place, the final transformation that takes place in the Repentance Center, is that there's a new sense of purpose that arises in that person. And so you read these words, with a purpose and endeavor by supplies of the Spirit to walk before God unto well-pleasing in all things." So what happens to the repentant sinner is that he has a new purpose and his life has changed and he has a different heart about his life. And this profound change, I think, can be summed up this way.

He changes what you want. You wanted the pig slop before, but you don't want it anymore. You want the treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven. He changes your wantor. That's what happens to the repentant.

They don't want that stuff any longer. And so God does such a thing. He changes your wantor. And it's a mark of a converted sinner and You want to be more like Jesus and you want to be less like yourself? You want to be conformed to the pattern of the words of God and no longer conform to this world.

It's a miracle that happens in your life. You see the love of God, how He transforms a person's wonder so that they don't want it anymore. One of the really clear examples in the Bible is the prodigal son. That's recorded in Luke 15 verses 17 through 20 and he said he said to his father I'm no longer worthy to be called your son but he desired he desired even the worst that his father could give him over what the best of the devil was giving him. And he said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the Father said to his servants, Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and he is found." And they began to be merry. There are many examples of this. Beyond the prodigal son Zacchaeus experienced the very same thing and he began to want what was good and he acted upon what was good.

David communicates this I think in a very succinct statement in Psalm 119 verse 128. Therefore all your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right. I hate every false way." So that's the change that takes place. You get a new wantor and you hate the false way And you want the true way. And so there's this new energy for good, and there's an aversion for evil.

And it's accompanied by diligence. And it brings sorrow, godly sorrow for sin. 2 Corinthians 7, 10, and 11 speaks of it this way, For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner what diligence it produced in you what clearing of yourselves what indignation what fear what vehement desire what zeal what vindication in all these things you proved yourselves to be clear. These words speak of a radically changed wonder.

And there are these desires for good things as opposed to the old things. So in this one paragraph you find these four wonderful things that God does for sinners. He's so kind to those that have ignored him. And the first thing that he does is he extends grace. It's an evangelical grace.

The second thing he does is he sends his spirit and the wind blows wherever it wishes and it refreshes. And then the third thing that he does is he changes our view of ourselves and our whole self-image is changed and we see ugly like we never saw it before and then finally He enlivens us with a new purpose. He gives us a whole new orientation in life. And our wantor changes. And we want to do what is pleasing in His sight.

With these final words, with a purpose and endeavor by supplies of the Spirit to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things." So that's what happens to people who are converted. This is how repentance unto salvation works and this storyline is repeated over and over again it happened in your life and And I pray that it'll happen to many that we speak to and many that we know that will watch this transformation take place in people's lives. And what a blessing it is to see that, to have someone who has been transformed by the power of God and they want wonderful things and that's what they get. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you've reached out your hand in evangelical grace and poured out your Spirit and shown us our ugliness and how You've also given us a new wantor so that we want what is good and not what defiles.

Lord, we praise You for this gift of repentance unto salvation. Oh Lord, multiply it. I pray for anyone here that doesn't know it That you would give it to them that your wind would blow Oh Lord that you would give them such a desire to cry out to you in their hearts And that you then that You would give them this evangelical grace. Amen.