The sermon 'Of Repentance Unto Life and Salvation' by Eric Bechler explores the concept of saving repentance as an evangelical grace that is essential for salvation. It contrasts saving repentance with non-saving repentance, using biblical examples like Judas Iscariot and Balaam to illustrate the absence of faith and the Holy Spirit in the latter. The sermon outlines five marks of saving repentance: awareness of sin's evils, godly sorrow, prayer for pardon, prayer for grace, and striving for holiness. Saving repentance is portrayed as a gift from God, granted through the Holy Spirit, and characterized by a heartfelt commitment to forsake sin and walk in obedience to Christ. The sermon emphasizes the role of godly sorrow, self-loathing, and the necessity of confessing and seeking forgiveness for sins, both from God and those we have wronged. It highlights the importance of relying on the Holy Spirit for strength and grace to resist temptation and live a life that is pleasing to God. The sermon concludes with a call to reflect on our response to sin and to seek genuine repentance that results in a marked change in thoughts, words, and deeds.

The reading from the Second London Baptist Confession comes again today from chapter 15 of repentance unto life and salvation. This saving repentance is an evangelical grace whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth by faith in Christ humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrence, praying for pardon and strength of grace with a purpose and endeavor by supplies of the Spirit to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things. We continue today in our study of repentance unto life and salvation. Dr. Wayne Gruden defines repentance as a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.

Last week, Colton contrasted the consequences of not repenting with the blessings of repentance, with Judas and Peter as examples of these two positions. How we live our lives demonstrates where each of us is. We're known by our fruit. This week we'll focus on what is saving repentance. Let's start with what is not repentance unto salvation.

Repentance that is not saving might look like repentance, but there is no faith. It's not founded on the gospel. There is no grace. There is no power of the Holy Spirit. There may be a humbling and there may be remorse or grieving.

We see this in examples like Judas Iscariot in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 27, 3 through 5. Then Judas, which had betrayed Jesus 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, and 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.

Judas repented himself. Some versions translate this as remorse, but some repented. He returned the blood money to the chief priests and the elders. He confessed his sin. He confessed Jesus's innocence.

Yet it was not a saving repentance. Judas had not been effectually called. There had been no indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we read in the Gospel of John that it was Satan that entered into him, not the Holy Spirit from John 13, 26 or 27. And Jesus answered, he it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.

And when he had dipped a sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered him into him, then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest do quickly. In the end, Judas' repentance led to his hanging himself. Without faith, there is no repentance unto life and salvation. We see this also with Balaam in the story of the talking donkey who realized he barely escaped death at the hand of the angel of the Lord and confessed, I have sinned.

In Numbers 22 verse 34, and Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeased thee, I will get me back again. Was this saving repentance? No. Peter tells us that Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness and he did not love God.

In 2 Peter 2, 14 through 16, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, a heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children, which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bessor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity. The dumbass speaking with the man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet." There are other examples in Scripture, but let's focus now on saving repentance. What is this? Our confession tells us in this paragraph what it is and gives us five marks of saving repentance. First of all, our confession states that it is an evangelical grace.

Okay, what does that mean? An evangelical grace. Jeremy Walker describes it as a grace genuinely connected with the gospel and God's power revealed in it. He further explains the confession connects it with the spirit of grace and supplication poured out on those who look on the pierced one of Zechariah 12 10 emphasizing the divine grant of repentance as found in Acts 11-18. Remember that grace is freely given to God, to us, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 324.

We do not earn it. We do not deserve it. It is a free gift. For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, Ephesians 2, 8, 9.

Without the work of the Holy Spirit, without faith, we're not able to truly repent unto salvation. Like faith, repentance is a gift of God. We read in 2 Timothy 2, 25, God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. Now let's look at the five marks the confession connects with saving repentance. Number one, in saving repentance, we are made aware of the evils of our sin.

Before we are saved, we have no awareness that What we say, what we think, what we do, how we live, offends a holy God. We might even think that we're doing pretty good, especially when we compare ourselves to others. Yet Isaiah tells us that we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in Isaiah 64, 6. As unbelievers, we don't even realize this. Paul tells us that the natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.

Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2 14. Why would we repent if we don't even know that we're doing something sinful. It is not until we're effectually called and the Holy Spirit gives us a new heart. He gives us the gift of faith that we can spiritually discern the evil of our sin. Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians, now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

First Corinthians 2, 12 and 13. Remember the picture of faith and repentance as being two sides of the same coin. They are distinct from each other, but cannot be separated. We cannot have saving repentance without saving faith. Repentance is a fruit of saving faith.

No one will ever see or become aware of every single sin that they commit. But do you ever pray that God would open your eyes to see the sin in your life that you're blinded to right now. Maybe you've sinned against a brother and don't know it. Maybe you've sinned against your parents and need to repent and ask for forgiveness. Maybe you're sinning against your spouse without even recognizing it.

Pray the Holy Spirit would show you your sin so that you could bring it to the foot of the cross, so you could repent of it, and so that you could ask for forgiveness and stop doing it. Number two, in saving repentance, we are humbled and should have a godly sorrow for our sin, a detestation of it, and a self-apporancy. Self-absorbing is an extreme hatred for yourself. Of course, it's normal and proper that when we recognize our sin that we're humbled and should be sorry for our sin against a perfectly holy God. The confession uses the phrase godly sorrow.

Paul clarifies for us what this means in his letter to the Corinthians. He describes two kinds of sorrow and what they lead to. In 1st Corinthians 7-10, godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. It is the Holy Spirit that opens our eyes and helps us see our sin. And as believers, our initial response should be a godly sorrow.

We should also show a detestation for our sin That is a hatred for that sin. We cannot be indifferent regarding to our sin. When we sin, we sin against a holy God. David says this in his confession in Psalm 51, Verse 4, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. The prodigal son also says this to his father in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1521.

And the Son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy Son. We sin against God who sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us and to free us from our bondage to sin, to free us from our slavery to sin. This should cut us to the heart. We should have a godly sorrow, and we should have a hatred towards that sin that we've committed. It's through God's Word and His Holy Spirit that we understand God's laws and what is right in God's eyes.

And Psalm 119 focuses a lot on God's Word. And in verse 104, Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. And in verse 128, Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. J.C. Ryle summarizes this part of repentance as follows.

The heart of a penitent man is touched with deep remorse because of his past transgressions. He is cut to the heart to think that he should have lived so madly and so wickedly. He mourns over time wasted, over talents misspent, over God dishonored, and over his own soul injured. The remembrance of these things is grievous to him, and the burden of these things is sometimes almost intolerable. Ezekiel also speaks while he's speaking to the house of Israel about this self-abhorrence.

He uses the term self-loathing over our transgressions. In Ezekiel 36, 31, then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourself in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. Have you been disappointed in yourself? Have you loathed yourself for the sins against God that you've committed? Or do you find that you're indifferent?

Are you too busy to express godly sorrow for your sins? Are you taking time to actually confess and turn away from sin? Or do you find yourself hating some of the sins you're committing, but rationalizing others away or disregarding them or overlooking them. Number three, in saving repentance we should be praying for pardon for our sins. An integral part of praying for the forgiveness of our sins is confession.

John's first epistle states the importance of confession of sins in 1 John 1 9. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we read of David's prayer for forgiveness after Nathan the prophet confronts him about his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51. In The first two verses, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Once David was made aware of his sin, we see him immediately crying out to God for mercy.

He humbles himself. He prays for the forgiveness of his sins. Psalm 51 for us is a wonderful picture of a prayer of repentance. Number four, in saving repentance we should be praying for strength of grace. Not only are we praying for the forgiveness of our sin, for the pardon of our sins, but we should also be praying that God would lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

These are familiar words from Matthew 6, 13. We should be praying for strength. We need to remember that we have an intercessor, a high priest, sitting at God's right hand. In Hebrews 4, we read, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We must pray for his mercy. We must pray for his grace to help in time of need, in time of temptation of sin or sin. Jesus promised before he died in John 14, 16, and 17, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." We cannot be victorious over sin apart from God. John Owen's comments, In truth, the Christian hope rests not ultimately upon our own diligence, but on God's faithfulness.

It is God, not us, who will ultimately persevere, and that is why He is able to promise us eternal life. Where the promise is, there is all this assistance. The faithfulness of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the power of the Spirit, all are engaged in our preservation. Our last mark, number five, in saving repentance we should be striving to walk in holiness before God. We're not able to walk in perfect holiness before God, but we can strive, we can endeavor to walk in holiness before God.

With the help of the Holy Spirit and the ongoing work of God's grace, we can put sin to death and conform more and more to the image of Christ and more and more walk in his ways. Scripture describes this walk in a number of different ways. Walk in the light, walk by the spirit, walk in a manner worthy of the calling from 1 John 1-7. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin. Galatians 5 16, but I say walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

In Ephesians chapter 4, 1 through 3, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Over the course of our lifetime, through the ongoing process of sanctification, we should be growing closer and closer to God. We should be growing in holiness, and we should be striving to walk on the path of righteousness and not on the path of sin and death. Romans 6, 12 through 14. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.

Do not present yourself members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace." Praise God we're under grace. So repent, turn from your wicked ways, bow down at the foot of the cross and cry out to the risen Lord, have mercy on me a poor and wretched sinner. Repent unto life and salvation. I'd like to close with some applications from Ligonier Ministries.

Let us all take time this day to Consider how we respond whenever we are confronted with our sin. Are we quick to make excuses for our evil or to play down the gravity of our deeds? Are we so proud that we will not admit to others that we have sinned when it is necessary for us to do so. May we abandon any pride that keeps us from admitting our guilt, and may we show grace to those who repent of their sins in our presence. Spend some time in prayer today and each day this week focusing on repenting for your sin.

Ask God to help you forgive sins committed against you and thank him for his redemption. Repentance entails confessing one's sin to the Lord, and if necessary, to an offended person as well. When we have offended another, for example, it is often right to express our sorrow for our words and or deeds to the offended party in order that they would see our repentance and be reconciled to us. Do you need to ask another person for his forgiveness as a part of your repentance? True repentance does not eliminate the struggle with sin and make us perfect immediately.

But it does result in a marked change of thoughts, words, and deeds whereby we do not love our former lusts as we once did. If we turn from sin, we will seek to be Christ's disciples, will feel sorrow for sin, and cease from lawlessness. Ask yourself today whether you can see the fruit of repentance in your life. If you can, be assured of your salvation. If not, turn from your sin today.

Amen.