In the sermon 'Of Repentance Unto Life and Salvation' by Scott Brown, the speaker emphasizes the critical role of repentance as a gateway to freedom and a central element of the Christian life. Drawing from the 1689 Baptist Confession, the sermon highlights that modern times have seen a decline in the emphasis on repentance due to a preference for positive messages over acknowledging faults. The speaker argues that repentance, often misunderstood as embarrassing, is essential for spiritual freedom and growth. He discusses various theological controversies, such as the Lordship salvation controversy and the hyper-grace movement, which have impacted the doctrine of repentance. The speaker references Biblical examples, including Acts 26 and Zechariah 1, to illustrate the dual internal and external nature of repentance involving a turning to God and a change in behavior. The sermon distinguishes between crisis conversions in later life and gentler conversions in youth, urging early repentance to avoid the consequences of a tumultuous life. The role of God in effectual calling and granting repentance is underscored, with the assertion that repentance is a divine gift rather than a human work, leading to forgiveness and spiritual refreshment. The speaker warns against delaying repentance, highlighting the devil's lies that deter individuals from turning to God, and calls for personal and familial commitment to repentance.

Well, as we look into the whole doctrine of repentance, it's really important that we understand that it's a gateway. It's a gateway to freedom. It's a gateway to so many good things. And so we're here in the 15th chapter of the Baptist Confession of 1689. And so, I think we first ought to say that repentance has fallen on hard times these days in the church.

And we live in a time where people want positive messages, they don't want to hear negatives, they do not want to hear about their faults. They want to hear about their possibilities, that's what we really want to hear. And repentance is thought of being embarrassing rather than a gateway. We think wrongly about it. And we think it's a hit to us when actually it's a hurt to us if we don't.

And so we also live in a world where psychology has given us an excuse to shift the blame for our problems. And we don't want to draw attention to ourselves. We want to blame it on someone else or some condition or some disease or something like that. So repentance isn't actually something that is all that popular today. We'd rather be a victim of alcoholism than to be a drunkard.

It's just a lot easier to do that than to repent of unbridled desires. There have been controversies over the doctrine of repentance. Over the years, I don't know if you remember in the 1980s and the 1990s, there was the Lordship salvation controversy that really focused on this doctrine of repentance. More recently, the hyper-grace movement, Tulane Chavidian was kind of the cheerleader for that whole thing. He's actually proven his medal in all of that and was really censured by the number of evangelical organizations.

We live in a time like the times of Jeremiah, or Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 8, 6, no man repented of his wickedness, saying, what have I done? The second thing I think we should recognize not only has it fallen on hard times Repentance really is key to everything Christian. It's really the heart of the Christian life. You remember Martin Luther's 95 Theses. You know we celebrate the 500th anniversary of his nailing the 95 Theses on the Wittenberg door and the very first thesis of the 95 theses stated that repentance was really the heart of the Christian life that it's something that you start with and you continue with and so repentance is really critical Now I'd like to talk about a definition of repentance here, just to help us as we go through this.

And I'd like to Use Benjamin Keach's Baptist Catechism to look, to look at, actually it's not there, so we won't go there. Benjamin Keach's Catechism, question 94 says, what is repentance unto life? The answer, repentance unto life, is a saving grace. It's a grace. You're not seeking him, he's seeking you, whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, that's the second part, you have a true sense of your sin, and an apprehension of the mercy of God you see these two things your sin and the mercy of God in Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God so It's this rising sense of hatred toward your sin and sorrow for it and you turn to God.

And then it continues with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. So I think that's a good definition. It includes a true sense of sin, a hatred of it, and then an obedience to the Lord. Now in defining repentance I want to give you two examples. And the first is in Acts 26, and I'd like you to turn there, Acts 26, 16-20, and the second is Zechariah 1, 1-6.

Those are two great examples and they really explain the doctrine of repentance. And in these two passages there is a commonality And there is the whole idea of turning, turning, or returning. And there you have the whole doctrine of repentance summed up in the Old and the New Testament. I mean the words that God uses in the Old and the New Testament. I mean the words that God uses in the Old and the New Testament give the same picture.

There are a few different words but they all really speak to the same matter of turning and or returning. So in Zechariah chapter 1 verses 1 through 6, really what many scholars think is one of the greatest summary texts in the Old Testament about repentance And it summarizes the whole Old Testament doctrine of repentance. And there are two matters that are involved here. And first internal shift, internal shift, and there is an external observable shift. It happens in the inside and it pushes to the outside.

If it hasn't happened on the inside, it won't happen on the outside. And the two are together. And so there's a returning to God on the inside and then there's an outward obedience and there are a number of particulars in this doctrine of repentance that appear in Zechariah chapter 1. First of all the anger of God see verse 2 the Lord has been very angry with your fathers. And then there's a call to repent in verse three.

Therefore say to them, thus says the Lord of hosts, return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Return to me, I will return to you. And then in verse four, there's this whole element of a break from the past verse 4 do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets preached saying thus says the Lord of hosts turn it now from your evil ways and your evil deeds, but they did not hear me, says the Lord. So it has to do with actual deeds that you turn away from. And so these verses here, they really contain the doctrine of repentance.

And these form the whole structure of revival. There's a repudiation of sin, and there's a turning to God, and sins are identified. There's a recognition that God is angry and and then there's a change of life and and so he calls He calls us to turn and repent, and then he stretches out his hand to bring us all the way. The one who calls us also carries us to himself. That's the mercy of God.

We are rebels. He pours out his grace. Our hearts change. And then he holds out his hand. And he draws a snare.

And it's a beautiful thing. Zechariah 1 makes that very clear. Return to me and I will return to you. He gives his grace so that you'll return to him, and then he holds out his hand when you do. It's such a beautiful thing.

And then in Acts chapter 26, verses 16 through 20, three of the most common words in the New Testament for repentance are used in this very text. That's why I'm saying these two passages are critical and they really collect up almost everything regarding repentance. And these three words are metanoe, metanoe and epistrefo. Those are three Greek words that explain it. And so this is in the whole context of the apostle Paul.

And so verse 15 says, so I said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you're persecuting. This is the time of Paul's conversion. And the Lord says, but arise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you, verse 18, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me." And then in verse 20 we read that this was first declared to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and then to the Gentiles, why?

That they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. So you have all those elements of repentance in Acts chapter 26. So there is a drawing, there's a holding out of the hand, and then there's a change of life. In both texts we find the very same thing. So I hope that helps to try to set the stage of what the word repentance means and what it really looks like.

You know when you're a parent you're always wondering if your children have actually repented of the sin that they just committed. And it's very important that parents understand repentance themselves so that they can understand what it looks like. If a parent doesn't have much to do with repentance, a parent might not much have discernment about repentance and how to lead children to repentance. So it's pretty dangerous not to be a repentant yourself because it bleeds over into other relationships. So let's go to the confession here.

We're just going to cover paragraph one tonight. And the first thing I want to say about this first paragraph is that it really it teaches one of the most wonderful things to consider and that's this it is never too late Too late. Except. Except. And so What we have here is that in this first paragraph, such of the elect, in other words, God works his power as are converted at, they are converted at riper years.

Now the confession says such as the elector converted at riper years. And the authors are making a distinction between those who repent late in life through a cataclysmic trouble that comes into their life the pressure gets so great they can't stand it anymore and they repent they encounter some great trial because of their sin, they're brought low, they see how they failed, they've seen how much damage they've done, they see what has happened to them, they find out, they finally, it comes to them what they have come to, and they repent in riper years. They're making a distinction between those who repent as a result of living a life of sin and have to experience some terrible cataclysm in their life, and that happens all the time. Distinguishing between those and those who repent perhaps in their younger years before they went out and did so much damage and they don't have that same cataclysm they don't they don't have everything collapsing around them you know I've known many people who repented before everything fell apart. And so they really entered smoothly into the kingdom of heaven instead of on a really rocky rocky road.

And you know God does use great trials and great sins to turn people to himself, but it's always a tragedy. There is always wreckage as a result of that. And so they are distinguishing between these two types of conversion. There are those who are converted in their riper years and as opposed to those who believe early in life. And they're protected from such a tumultuous conversion.

And what the authors are saying is that all believers don't need to have a crisis conversion. All believers do not need to have this moment like the apostle Paul had on the Damascus road when he was on the way to kill Christians and God stopped him and blinded him. But you can be converted younger before you've torn up your life and everybody else's life. And all believers don't need a crisis conversion. There can be a gentler and less tumultuous conversion.

For those of you who have not experienced a tumultuous conversion, Don't doubt your salvation just because you didn't have a big crisis. You may have had a crisis but don't look at the person who did have a crisis and say that's the only way to be saved. Don't look at the Apostle Paul and wait for you to go blind and fall off your horse because you've done so much damage in this world you don't you know God doesn't always save people that way thankfully he he rescues them before they have done such terrible things so you might not have experienced a gigantic earthquake of the soul and if you haven't you shouldn't feel like you should because there are two kinds of conversions. Those that are done in riper years as a result of doing a lot of damage and then There are those who are done in younger years where there wasn't a big tumult. Some of you can't remember a time when you didn't believe in Jesus and didn't want him as your Lord and Savior.

Some of you can pinpoint a time when you were rebellious and you did a lot of damage. But if you did it early enough, you didn't do too much damage. If you did it late, you probably did a lot of damage and hurt a bunch of people. And there's going to be two multum calamities as a result. And God's going to sweep you into his arms, and he's going to rescue you, and he's going to start healing you.

So those are the two kinds. Now there are a number of examples in scripture. Manasseh is one of them in 2 Chronicles 33 verses 10 through 12. And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people but they would not listen Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria who took Manasseh with hooks Bound him with bronze fetters and carried him off to Babylon now when he was in affliction he implored the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed to him and he received, God received his entreaty, heard his supplication and brought him back to Jerusalem and his kingdom. It was a tumult.

Manasseh was a bad guy and he did a lot of damage to a lot of people and God used the abuse of the Babylonians to turn him. Not the Babylonians. And so as a result he repented, he took away the foreign gods from the house of the Lord and the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem and he cast them out of the city and he repaired the altar of the Lord he sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it and Commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel he turned but then the next verse says but Israel didn't turn But he did turn So that was a tumultuous conversion in the riper years. So you have Manasseh. Manasseh is one example.

Here's another example, Saul. We just talked about him. He's going along the Damascus road and he's blinded and he's persecuting Jesus. Then there's the Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16, another example of a conversion in riper years. And in Acts 16 we read in verse 29, then he called for a light and he fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas.

And he brought them out and said, "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' So some people wait a long time before they're saved. They put off their repentance and as result God works remarkable trouble in their life and then they turn. You think about the days of Noah where men would not repent. You know Noah preached for 120 years and who repented? Nobody.

Not even the descendants of Methuselah, not even the descendants of Enoch. Nobody repented, only the eight that were on that ark. Can you imagine that? You preach for 120 years. Every hammer blow on the ark, every saw in the sound of the forest, every tree falling was preaching, preaching, preaching that judgment is coming and nobody repented in a hundred and twenty years and They had to receive the the judgment of God They lived in a dream world and they mocked him for 120 years.

And it seems like even Noah's servants refused to believe as well. In Sodom you had a very similar situation. Lot, it says Lot was a righteous man and he was vexed by the sins of Sodom though we can see how he got syncretized there but he was he was a righteous man and all were destroyed except just a very very few and angels had to lead him out of the city and everybody else was destroyed. People sometimes do not repent. They do not even repent in riper years.

They wait and they wait and they wait and then it actually is too late. And we find examples of this, you know, Isaiah preached and men had hard hearts and Ezekiel preached and they would not hear him or repent as we read in Ezekiel 3 verses 4 and 7. And so the word of God, it either saves you or it kills you. It either softens your heart or it hardens your heart. You know, there's some things that soften in fire and other things that get harder in fire.

And that's the way it is with the human heart. When the fire of the word of God comes down, it softens some and it hardens others. And often, because of That hardness, people wait for their riper years and they do a lot of damage. You know, you who are really young here now, just, hey, here's my appeal, repent. Repent early.

Repent early. Absolutely, you will save yourself and everybody around you so much pain. And if you're faking, if you're faking being a Christian and you've never really turned to Jesus Christ you've never desired that he would take over every part of your life And you're just going through the motions and you're a nice Christian kid look out You keep doing that for five ten twenty thirty years the wreckage will be astonishing Because you're a hypocrite And if God has mercy upon you, He'll save you. But you will have done an enormous amount of damage to yourself and everybody else around you. So, did you have an earthquake of the soul or did you did you you know move into the kingdom of heaven without so much too well that's the first issue here that there are some who are converted in their riper years and you should not doubt your salvation and he speaks here they've lived in the state of nature in other words hardened before God no sense of sin no sense of the love of God just experiencing you know sort of raw life and you get a lot of raw you know on you when you when you do that you just live according to your lower nature and it's just it's very damaged and very destructive you're insensible to sin and And he speaks that they live in diverse, you know, many lusts and pleasures, just pursuing them.

The Apostle Paul reminded Titus of how this works, Titus chapter three, verses two and three. For we ourselves were once foolish disobedient deceived serving various lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another those are lusts and pleasures And the heart is always damaged by those kinds of things. While there's a gateway, there's a gate standing ready to refreshment and it's the gateway of repentance and then The next the next phrase here is I think is really critical and I think this first word in the next phrase God is very important to pay attention to. God in their effectual calling, He gives, He giveth them repentance unto life. This, this means that it's God that does it.

It's God that reaches out his hand. It's God that opens up the heart. It's the kindness of God that leads you to repentance, as the Apostle Paul said. And It is God that does it. That's why in Titus 3 verses 4 and 5 we read, but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

So it's God that does it. This is the message of the very last prophetic testimony in the Old Testament, Malachi. The last verses of the Old Testament speak of the fact that God is going to do something. Malachi prophesies that Elijah would come and what would he do? He will turn the hearts.

He turns the hearts. There's an external force that turns your heart. You don't turn it yourself. He turns it. And This is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so this is the whole reason for the preaching of repentance. When Jesus Christ was tempted in the wilderness, after that he went out preaching and he said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand that's in Matthew 4 verse 17 and when Jesus came out of Galilee he said the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel This is the heart of the gateway to freedom and the repentance is that gateway. And you know repentance is not it's not a work of man. Repentance is not an entry ticket into the kingdom of God. It's a condition of citizenship in the kingdom of God.

It's something that God accomplishes. And so the Lord Jesus was constantly preaching repentance. When Jesus sent out the 12 to preach in pairs, he said that they, it says in Mark 6, they went out and preached that men should repent. They went out and preached that men should repent. That's why it's tragic that repentance has fallen on hard times today.

Because men should preach that men should repent. That's why it's tragic that repentance has fallen on hard times today because men should preach that men should repent. That's what we should do. It's pretty offensive, isn't it? But that's what we should do.

We should call men to repentance. We have no business calling people to a higher life or to get their needs met. We must call them to repent. There will be no higher life, there will be no blessing unless they do repent. So it makes no sense to try to call them to their possibilities.

There are no possibilities without repentance. And there are two results of repentance, and the first is forgiveness and the second is refreshing you know when when peter was preaching to a large crowd on the day of Pentecost. It says that the people were pierced to the heart, and they said to Peter and the apostles, brethren, what should we do? And Peter said to them, repent and Let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. That's Acts chapter 2 verses 26 through 30.

And so forgiveness is perhaps one of the most important and wonderful results here, set free. The burden of sin has been lifted from your soul. And second, refreshing, in Acts chapter 3 verse 19 And throughout that chapter, Peter is at the portico of Solomon's temple, and a big crowd gathers there. And Peter says, repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. I love this phrase.

So that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord So that times of refreshing May come from the presence of the Lord. What a blessing That is You turn from your iniquities and there's refreshing. And that's why I say it's a gateway to freedom. It's a gateway to joy. It's a gateway to such good things.

And that's why we ought to be a repenting people. We have a natural insensitivity toward our sins. We tend to minimize our sins and we're more aware of others' sins than our own. Often we get upset with people for their sins when in fact it's our sin that's worse than their sin. Have you ever noticed that?

And we're self-righteous and our repentance is is such a help to our self-righteousness. And so that's why one author who wrote a big old long book on repentance said that repentance is the first word of the gospel. It's the first word of the gospel. And that's why Jesus was calling to repent. Repentance in the family is so critical.

We have to deal with our own hearts first. But as we deal in our families, it's so critical that we and our children understand what repentance looks like. If you have unrepentant parents, you're going to have hardened children most likely. So it's critical that we come to terms with our own sin. Delaying Repentance is the most dangerous and damaging thing you can do.

And I remember when I was younger and I can recall conversations with younger people over the years. There's a fear of repentance because of what might happen if you do repent. And you find these thoughts flowing through your brain. If I turn to the Lord in my younger years, I'll miss so much fun. That's Satan always says that to young people.

He says if you turn to God you won't be able to follow through, you won't make it. It's just a fad. It's just a scene that you're getting sucked into right now you know it's just something that's happening now but it'll it'll go away that's the Satan was was speaking that one into my mind when I was when I was younger you know you think well I'll be rejected by my friends you know I won't I won't be cool anymore if I do that. And there's a real falsehood in there, cool anymore. Well, you weren't cool in the first place.

But if you think that maintaining your sin is going to make you cool, you are sadly mistaken. You know, you think, well, God may make me give up something that I like. You know, the devil might breathe into your ear. You know, Christianity is just so goofy. He might say, as he almost always does, you know, there'll be time later to turn.

I have time, I'm young. There's just some things I wanna experience. I've got lots of time. That's a lie Because every day without repentance is another day of the corrosion of your mind and your soul and it's one more step to hell. And it's tragic to wait.

You know, the devil says, you know, there's so many ways to God. How do you know Christianity is the right way to God? Satan has all kinds of one-liners that he uses with everybody to get them to delay their repentance And these voices are the devil trying to deprive human beings of times of refreshing that come from repentance. And that's why It's very clear from scripture is that repentance is a gateway to freedom. And the longer you wait, the less freedom you'll have and the harder it will be.

Don't wait until your riper years. Don't wait until God must bring a gigantic cataclysm in your life. All those little whispers of the devil, they are from the devil designed to destroy you. They are. And almost everybody hears those same lines.

Have you ever heard those lines in your head? Almost everyone I know has heard those lines, all of them. And so here in this first section of our confession is the message, it's never too late to repent. Repent early. Don't wait till your riper years.

The longer you spend in the state of nature the worse it gets the more you serve these diverse lusts and pleasures the worse it gets turn to God hear his voice and how does it happen you realize your sins and you begin to hate them and you see how you've defied God and he reaches out his hand and he takes you home. That's repentance. Would you pray with me? Father we thank you for This remarkable blessing you've given to us, this way of help for ourselves and everyone around us. Oh Lord, I pray there's anyone here who's delaying for any of those voices of Satan, or any of those lies.

I pray Lord that you would help them to see the lies of the devil, and that you, Lord, would help us to be a repenting people. I pray for the younger people in our church that they would not wait for riper years. Oh, Lord, that you would have mercy upon all of us. Pray for all the parents here as they have the responsibility to instruct their children on how they might repent so that they would not be like that city without walls broken down and destroyed. Amen.