Repentance

To start the sermon today, I want to turn to a number of Scriptures. And as we turn to a number of these Scriptures, you'll see what the subject for today is. So let's start in the New Testament. We're going to go through the Gospels and through the first in the book of Acts. Not hit every Scripture in there, of course, but let's start in Matthew 3. In Matthew 3, we have John the Baptist who is beginning his ministry. And you remember he is the one who prepared the way for Jesus Christ. In Matthew 3, in verse 1, it says this, it says, In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. As we learn of John the Baptist, the very first word that it says that he is recorded for us as he was preaching is repent. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. One chapter over in Matthew 4, of course, at the end of chapter 3, we see where Jesus Christ set the example for mankind. He was baptized. He didn't need to be baptized, but he came to John and he was baptized as an example to us that we need to be baptized for salvation. In the beginning of chapter 4, we have the great temptation where Jesus Christ overcame the temptations of Satan. And as he began his ministry, we read this in verse 17. It says, From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The very first word we have is he began his ministry is repent. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Over in the Gospel of Mark, Mark 6, and we'll begin in verse 10. This is the occasion where Jesus Christ is sending out the twelve disciples. And he sends them out two by two, if you recall. Then he sends them out and tells them, Don't take money. Don't take clothes. Don't take anything. Just go out and do what I ask you to do. In verse 10, it says this, Also, it says, Christ said to them, In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. And whoever will not receive you or hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. If they won't listen to you, leave. Assuredly, I say to you, we'll be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Verse 12, So they went. They went out and they preached that people should repent. The very first thing they taught was the very first thing that John the Baptist taught, very first thing that Jesus Christ taught. The very first thing that the disciples as they went out taught, repent. A gospel of repentance. Over in Luke, Luke 13, Jesus Christ speaks of repentance again, and He tells us and shows us just how important repentance is to all of us, certainly, but to every single mankind, every single man, woman, and child who has ever lived. Luke 13 in verse 1 says, There were present at that season some who told Christ about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Kind of a daunting thing. And Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? Are you kind of judging what their sin is because of what has happened to them? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. He says something pretty dramatic about repenting there. Or, Leos 18, on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? Verse 5, I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Everyone who will not repent will perish.

No one wants to repent or no one wants to perish, but if you're not going to perish, repentance is something that we need to do and live. Luke 24.

Luke 24.

This is after Christ was resurrected. Before He is ascended into heaven, He is appearing to the disciples there, and He gives them some words of admonition as the book of Luke closes. In Luke 24, verse 44, to those assembled, He said, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written to the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning Me. He explained to them He was the Messiah. This is everything that was written about Me. I have fulfilled it. And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. The same thing that's happened to you and me. God opens our minds. We understand the Scriptures. We see truth that we didn't see before, and it's illuminating, and should be invigorating for us. And then Christ said to them in verse 46, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.

And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. This is the message I want preached, beginning in Jerusalem, but going out to all nations. I preached it. John the Baptist preached it. As I sent the disciples out, they preached it. Now as you go forth, you preach it, is what He's telling them. And indeed, they did over an ax. When the day of Pentecost came, the Holy Spirit came upon the church.

Peter and the apostles, they went out, and they spoke the truth of God boldly. And as they talked to the people about who Jesus Christ was and showed them from the Scriptures, not by their opinion, not by their ideas, but from the Scriptures, this was the Messiah. And you put them you put Him to death. When they heard the story and they were pricked in heart, it says in verse 37 of Acts 2, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.

And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Now we know this. We get it. We understand it. We didn't get it before. Now what do we do? And Peter said to them, repent, repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Repent. Your sins will be forgiven, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Over in chapter 3, as Peter continues, as Peter continues to talk to the people that day, in verse 18, as he's speaking, he says, these things which God foretold by the mouth of all of his prophets that the Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled. Verse 19, repent. You've heard it, repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before.

Repent. Chapter 20, Acts 20, verse 18. As Paul is now traveling around to the various areas, he says this, Acts 20, verse 18, when it had come to him, Paul said to them, you know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I has always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

To the Jews and Gentiles alike, I preached the Gospel of repentance. The same Gospel Jesus Christ preached, the same one that John the Baptist preached, the same one that the apostles preached early and then later as well. And finally, over in Chapter 26, this time Paul has been brought before King Agrippa in Caesarea, who is asking him questions and Paul witnesses to him of what it is that he's done and why the Jews are accusing him of the things they are, none of which could be verified.

In verse 19, Acts 26, Paul says, therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent, they should turn to God, and they should do works befitting repentance. A common theme preached throughout the beginning of the New Testament church preached by Christ. He commands that his church preach the Gospel of repentance today, and the church does that today.

Back at the time that Paul was preaching a Gospel of repentance, the people didn't want to hear it. They didn't want to hear that what they were doing wasn't in concert with what God had wanted them to do. They didn't want to hear that what they were doing wasn't what the Bible had said. They thought they were the people of God. They thought that they were doing everything right, and it kind of offended them.

That Paul would come and say, you weren't doing this and this and this and that this is what the Bible says to do, and we need to do it that way. God's way, not our way, not our opinions, but his will, his mind, his way. And he says in verse 21, that's the reason for these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. They didn't like what I had to say. When people hear a gospel of repentance, they don't like being told what they don't want to hear.

But our life was never supposed to be, that we were all just going to get praised and patted on the back and said, good job over and over and over again, because that isn't what God has called us to do. It would be if we were perfect beings, but we're not. A gospel of repentance.

I guess as we go through these scriptures, we see that repentance, especially at this time of Passover, but really 365 days a year should be something that is on our minds. That repentance is something that we need to be cognizant of, aware of, and something that we certainly do before we're baptized, because if we don't truly repent before baptism, God's not going to honor that baptism. But it's something that we do the rest of our lives. It's not something we do once and then get on with our life and think that we're all done perfectly sealed and whatever. Repentance is something we do until the day we die. And every year as we go approach Passover, we learn that there are things that we need to overcome, attitudes we need to put out of our life, things that we need to look at ourselves honestly from the way that the God looks at it, and that we need to repent of those things.

So let's look at the word repent. Let's look at the word repent. In the New Testament, it comes from the Greek word metaneo. It literally means to change one's mind, or a change of mind.

Now, a change of mind, the way the Bible talks about it, is far different than the way we might change our mind. You know, I might have decided to wear one suit this morning, but changed my mind to wear another. That's not the change of mind that that repentance in metaneo is talking about. It's a change of mind that alters the way we think, alters everything about our life. It's something that hits us so strong, just like the word believe, when we believe that we can't live the way we did anymore. Repentance is a change of mind and a change of heart. Let me read from a Bible dictionary here that talks about the word metaneo. It says the term was used consistently in the literature of that time to express a fundamental change in thinking that leads to a fundamental change in behavior and the way of living. Kind of a dual thing. Changed the way I think, but that leads to a change in the way of life. In 2006, an ecumenical group of scholars published a study of repentance in the Bible. After a thorough examination of Hellenistic Jewish writings, the study found that for Jews living at the time of Jesus, repentance meant a fundamental change in thinking and living. So when they heard the word repentance or metaneo, they didn't just think it was okay, that's a good idea, that sounds good. When they were pricked to the heart, and when it says they were cut to the heart, when they heard who Jesus was, it meant something to them.

It altered their thinking. This was a new day, a new beginning, and everything that was before could never be the same again because they understood something they didn't know before.

And so repentance for us had the same thing. At some point in our lives, God opened our minds, and we realized the way we're living, the things that we believe, the things that we were taught, aren't the things of God. And if we believe in God, and if we believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and if we believe that He's returning to earth, and believe that He is going to return and allow those of us who He has called to reign with Him and to work with Him, then it should have altered our thinking. It has to have altered our thinking. I would hope that's why we're here today, because we know it and because we understand it and it cut us to the core.

It's a change of thinking. We can't go back to the way we were before, but Paul as he talks to King Agrippa here, it's more than just the change of heart. There has to be something else. You know, we can talk all day long. I've repented, I've repented, I've repented. In the world around us, repentance has become kind of a byword. You know, say this little prayer and you've repented.

That is not it at all. That is so far from the biblical definition of repentance, it's not even in the same league. Repentance is a lifelong process. Repentance is not just a little prayer. Repentance is like a thunderbolt hit you. You know and you change and you do the things differently from that time forward because you believe. Look at what Paul said here in Acts 26.

If we go back up to verse 14, Paul is recounting to King Agrippa his calling. What happened to him?

He's saying here at the end of verse 14 when Jesus Christ said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard for you to kick against the goads. So Paul said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I'm Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise 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 yet reveal to you. Paul knew a lot, but he didn't know it all at that time. The rest of his life, God would continue to reveal to him just like God continues to work with us, continues to reveal to us our faults, our weaknesses, our things, as well as truths. Verse 17, I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you. To whom I now send you.

Why? 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 inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. I'm sending you to minister to those Gentiles. They're going to hear your word that I give you, God says. And when they hear your word and open their eyes, it'll turn them from darkness to light. It'll turn them from the power of Satan to the power of God. It'll turn them from the way of death to the day to the way of life. It's that powerful. And that's what Paul was sent to do. That's what God has called us to. That's what his church today is preaching, will preach until the time of his return. A gospel of repentance because that's the very first step in salvation. Without it, there is no salvation. Without repentance, as Jesus Christ said twice in the first five verses of Luke 13, you will surely perish. Every man, woman, and child will come to repentance or they will perish. And repentance is the first step. Let's go back to Hebrews. Hebrews 6. The author of Hebrews here talks about that very same thing. Here's a church of God, if you will, that he's writing to and talking to. And he sees problems in the church. He sees problems with people and he writes this to them. When we read these letters and we read these epistles, it's as if God is writing to us. And we should take them as that. Hebrews 6 verse 1.

Therefore, he writes, inspired by God, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ.

Let us go on to perfection. It could be translated, let's go on to blamelessness. Let's go on to spiritual maturity. Because when we are called of God, when we repent and have faith toward God, and we are baptized, and we receive the Holy Spirit, God sees us as children. Babes. You know, we baptize someone, we say, when you come up out of the waters of baptism, you're a new creation in Christ. You are washed clean of all your sins and you, for the rest of your life, let God write his principles and laws in your mind and heart.

You know, we have babies. Babies are great, right? When our families, when we have babies, we marvel at them. We love those little babies. And everything they do excites us and interests us. When they smile for the first time, we can't believe how great it is. When they start cooling at us, we can't believe how great it is when they start walking and when they start talking. And then when they go to school and they start learning things and asking questions, we're just mesmerized and we're so happy. And we watch the development of that young person as they go from infanthood all the way up to young adult and we see them progressing and it's so good to see their maturity. That's exactly what God wants to see in us. We're babes in Christ when we're baptized and for the rest of our life he wants to see us mature and grow and get stronger and learn how to walk and learn how to talk and learn how to become more like him. And if we don't do that, if we stagnate somewhere along the way, God isn't pleased with that any more than if we saw our children stay at a third grade level for the rest of their lives with no other problem that was going on. If they just sort of stagnated, I'm not going to learn anymore, I'm not going to learn any other vocabulary, I'm not going to try anything else, I'm just going to stay this way the rest of my life. That's not a pleasing thing. God's not pleased with us when we stagnate. That isn't what he has called us to anymore than our children that we would expect or be happy if they just chose to just stay at the position they were in. He's called us to a life of growth for as long as we live, whether that's 60, 70, 80, 90 years, or beyond that. As long as we live, we grow, we learn.

So he says, therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let's go on, let's grow up, let's keep moving forward, let's go on to perfection. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, because let's face it, all of us, whether we were raised in the church or not, there were dead works that were part of our lives. Things that were not at all what God would have us do. Things that we couldn't find in the Bible. They were dead works, and they led to death if we kept doing those. Repent from those dead works. Change of mind. Now I know. I can't do that anymore. How I understand there is God, and I owe him everything. Eternity. Future.

Everything I owe to him. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. The things that we must have. Why would we baptize if we hadn't repented and were determined to turn to God and repent? Why would we ever consider baptism if we didn't have faith toward God and feel that in our loins? Let's not go, let's not relay that foundation, now he's not saying we never repent again because we repent for the rest of our lives. We learn how to walk when we're one and that one year old. We walk the rest of our lives. We learn how to talk between one and two, or somewhere in that age. We talk the rest of our lives. Repentance is part of our lives for the rest of our life. And you know what? Every single one of us, every single one of us in this room, and I include me, we have dead works today. They're still dead works in our lives. None of us have nothing to repent of. As we head toward Passover, if we think, if we think we have nothing to repent of, then go back and read the verses that we read last week about Laodicea. Go back and read about, I am rich, I am wealthy, I am increased in goods, and I have need of nothing because if that's what you think, then you'd better read Laodicea and understand the message of it. So Paul says, or not Paul, the author of Hebrews here, it may be Paul, some people think it. Don't do those again. Let's lay those foundations, but let's keep going on.

In Acts 17, verse 30, you know, says, the time of our ignorance when we don't know the truth of God, and all of us lived in that time where we didn't understand the truth of God. We kept Sunday instead of Sabbath, or maybe we kept no day at all. We celebrated world's holidays versus God's holy days, or whatever. We used God's name in vain as just a regular part of our lives. We didn't know any better. It was still sin. It was still sin because there is a law, an immutable law, that God put in a standard in place that He expects us to live by. But when He opens our minds, He says, I call for all men everywhere to repent. Everywhere to repent. Now, some people think that repentance is a New Testament concept. It's not at all. It could be turning back to Ezekiel 14. As we read about Israel, and as we head toward Passover, I'm sure we're reading about Israel's exploits in the wilderness and how they turned from God and how over and over we remember that He cautioned them, come back to me, turn back to me. The prophet Jeremiah spent 40 years telling you to turn back to me, and if you don't turn back to me, guess what? If you don't repent and turn back to me, it's going to be a disaster. And indeed, they lost their kingdom just like the kingdom, just like the house of Israel did. But here in Ezekiel 14, we find the Hebrew word for repent. And the Hebrew word for repent, in the way that we have talked about for the New Testament term, is the Hebrew word shub, S-H-U-B. It's used over a thousand times. A thousand times.

God kept cautioning His people, turn back to me. And often when you read it in the Old Testament, it's translated as return, or turn back, or turn to me. And not the word repent that we see in the New Testament. Let's look at Ezekiel 14. Now, remember Ezekiel? He was taken out of Judea. He was over there in the kingdom of Babylon. The kingdom of Israel had already gone into captivity. So when we read about Israel in Ezekiel, we know that he's talking about a future time. Ezekiel 14, verse 1. Now, some of the Israel, some of the elders of Israel came to me, Ezekiel writes, and they sat before me, and the word of the eternal came to me, saying, Now, these words I want you to listen to, and I want us to think about it in our own minds, okay? Because I could say these words and write these words today, and they're as true today as they were as God was talking to Israel back then, and maybe even more so. Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts. Now, in old times, they had idols of stone, and they had idols of wood. Now, we think about people in old times bowing down to these idols of wood, and God's saying, you're bowing down to this idol. What are they going to tell you? They're just made of things that are created. But that's not what he's saying here in Ezekiel. These people set up idols in their hearts. Now, we've talked about idols because idolatry is alive and well in the 21st century. Idolatry is alive and well in the church of God in the 21st century, as it was in the time of Ezekiel. They have set up idols in their hearts. They didn't have the little bales sitting there on the desktop that they would bow down to, but they had idols in their hearts because they were trusting in something else besides God. There was something else they were doing, and they had something between them and God.

Rather than trusting in God with all their heart, mind, and soul, they were trusting in something else. They were listening to something else. They may not be listening to a preacher of a false god, a bale, or a buddha, or whatever, but they were listening to these idols that they had set up in their hearts. So, in a man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and they have put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. They put those idols up there.

They're trusting in them those idols more than they're trusting in me. They're listening to those things, and we've talked about the idols that are alive and well in America today and in the world today. Things that we go to, and you know, when we haven't come out of Babylon, the way we talked about last week, is that a man of these men have set up idols in their hearts, and they put them before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let myself be inquired of at all by them? If they're trusting in these idols, if they pay more attention to them than me, should I even listen to what they say? Because they've made their choice. They put that idol, whatever it is, before me. Should I even bother listening to what they say? Therefore speak to them and say to them, thus says the eternal God, every one of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the eternal will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols. If he's got a lot of idols, if he's got them all lined up over there, I'm going to take this advice over here first before I check with God, or I'll do that over what God says. Because the Bible is the word of God, every single thing that confronts us, it's in the Bible. We can find the answers. The question is, do we trust it or not? Or do we look to Babylon and say, oh Babylon's got a better answer. That's a better answer. I'll take that one. God says I'm going to answer him according to the multitude of his idols. If he's got a lot of idols, let those idols answer him. Let them, let them give him his direction. He hasn't bothered with me. I won't bother answering him.

Verse 5, that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart. That's what I'm looking for. I'm not looking for lip service. I'm not just looking for them to say the things that I want to hear. I want to know their heart is with me. It trusts me, looks to me, follows me. That I may seize the house of Israel by their heart because they are all estranged from me by their idols.

They've all separated themselves from me. They have their little idols.

I didn't separate from them. They're the ones who chose to keep those idols in place.

Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, Repent. There's the Hebrew word, there's a Hebrew word, Shub, and he says it again, Repent. Turn away from your idols and again turn your faces away from all your abominations.

Understand. Examine yourselves. Look at yourselves honestly. Don't fool yourself. Don't be self-deceptive. Just don't say it's okay. Not a big deal. Look at yourself honestly through the eyes of God, through the eyes of his Holy Spirit, through the eyes of his word. Repent. Turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations. For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from me, you see how God looks at it? You're the one who has left me. You've chosen someone else over me. Anyone who separates himself from me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me. I, the Lord, will answer him by myself. I will set my face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people. Then you shall know that I am the Eternal. Then you shall know that I am God. Those are some strong words from Ezekiel.

Strong words for us to hear. Strong words for us to listen to.

Strong words that might cause us to do a little self-examination between now and Passover to see if we could, if we might have fallen into this state that God says, if we might have any idols that are out there. Well, Israel never listened to God. Israel never repented. They never turned back. They lost their kingdom. They lost it all. Judah never listened. They lost their kingdom, and they lost everything. But there was a city-state in the Old Testament that did listen to God, one that we might not expect to. We find that little city-state over here in the Book of Jonah.

We know the Book of Jonah, the story of Jonah. It's one of the minor prophets here. Comes after Amos, Obadiah, and then Jonah. Do you remember Jonah? God sent Jonah to preach a gospel or a message of repentance to the city of Nineveh. Go to Nineveh, tell them to turn to God.

Same message we would say that we've heard that's been preached to you and me. The same message that we would be preaching to the world, preaching to ourselves, remembering ourselves. Go preach to them, Jonah. You remember, Jonah didn't want to do it. I don't want to preach that message to them. But God saw to it that that message was going to be preached. And even though Jonah tried to run, it had to be preached. And God will see that that message is preached in all the world today, and until the time that Jesus Christ returns, it'll either be preached by us or whoever he chooses to preach it. In Jonah 3, Jonah went. He had no choice. God sent him there. He learned. I've got to go preach this gospel, even though I don't want to. But the strange things happen. The people listen. Verse 5, Jonah 3. So the people of Nineveh believed God. Whoa! He said, turn back to me, and they believed that he was going to bring ruin on them. The people of Nineveh believed God.

They proclaimed a fast. They put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. And word came to the king of Nineveh. And he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his noble saying, Let neither man nor beast, heard nor flock, taste anything. Don't let them eat or drink water. Not just the men, everything. Let everything fast, every living thing. Let's do what the God of Israel says. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn. There's the Hebrew word shab.

Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent? Okay, the New King James says, Relent, which is a better translation of the verb that of the word that you have in the Old King James that says, Repent, because that word repent is not Hebrew shab. It's something different. A minor change of mind. Relent is a much better translation as they've changed it in the New King James. Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? This is Jesus Christ said, If you don't repent, you will perish. Nineveh was told, If you don't repent, you'll perish. They did.

Verse 10, Then God saw their works, that they turned away, or turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.

This is a good example. They listened and they did what God asked them to do.

Christ made note of that example of the people in Nineveh. Let's go over to Matthew. Matthew 12.

Matthew 12, picking it up in verse 40.

Kind of a season that we're in verse, in verse 40, as we approach the three days and three nights, and what that symbolizes, verse 40. Matthew 12, Christ speaking. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Verse 41, the men of Nineveh, those men we just read about, the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation. View Jews that are listening to me, he says. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and they will condemn it. Why? Because they repented. Metanoia. Because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And indeed, a greater than Jonah is here.

But he said, you're not listening to me. You're not repenting. You're not turning back to what God said to do. You're still said in your own ways. You're going to do things the way you want and only the way you want, and you're going to hate the message of repentance.

And yet the people of Nineveh did it.

Might we be guilty? I mean, the Jews thought they were part of God's people.

We all believe, if we're sitting here, that we're part of God's people. Why me be?

May we not be listening as the people back then did. If we go on, verse 42, the Queen of the South, it says, she'll rise up in the judgment with this generation, and she'll condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And indeed, a greater than Solomon is here.

People wouldn't even come to listen to Jesus Christ, some of them. How far would we travel to hear the Word of God? What will we do? What sacrifice? What inconvenience might we suffer to hear the Word of God? Or are we in such a state that if it's inconvenient or doesn't meet what we want that day, it's just not worth the effort? The Queen of Nineveh, or the Queen of the South, was well worth her time to come and listen to the Word of God. So we see that repentance.

Repentance is extremely—I can't even—there's not even a word to describe how important it is and how it should be part of all of our lives and on our minds. As Passover comes, it should be there because every single one of us need to be living in a constant state of repentance, constant state of comparing ourselves to the stature of Jesus Christ, constant state of evaluating ourselves, measuring up to that standard, and then making the change when God shows us what that change needs to be of complying and transforming and allowing Him to renew our minds to that. For repentance is a rare thing on earth. It's a rare thing.

Let's go back to Acts 11. It's a rare thing because it's a gift from God, and in this day and age, He has not granted that everyone would come to repentance. You and I, we're benefactors of a gift that God has given us. The fact that we have repented, the fact that we know what repentance is, the fact that we understand what God is, and the fact that we have had that jolt to our lives is something we should be eternally grateful for and eternally keep in front of us.

In Acts 11, this is Peter. Remember in Acts 10, he sees the vision of the sheet coming down with the clean and unclean animals. He thinks that God is trying to tell them that all meats are clean. It turns out that it wasn't that at all, but God was showing them that all men are clean and you don't call any man unclean. Peter goes to the Gentiles. He sees that God has opened the minds of the Gentiles, and so he understands what it is. He comes back and he's telling the people of Judea.

Let's begin in verse 15. Acts 11 and 15.

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, Peter says, as upon us at the beginning.

You know, as I spoke to them, they got it. They understood. We were in one accord. We were right there with each other. I spoke. They understood. They asked questions I understood. It's kind of like you and I when we speak about the Bible. We get it. And God binds us together by His Holy Spirit.

Then I remembered the Word of the Lord, how He said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If, therefore, God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?

God's the one who chooses, who has the gift of repentance. God's the one who gives the understanding. How why would I stand in His way? It was His will, not mine. When they heard these things, the people listening to them, they became silent, and they glorified God, saying that God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. He's given them that gift, too.

We didn't expect it. We didn't see it coming, but it's a gift that He gave them. Same gift that He's given you and me. Second Timothy. Second Timothy, too. As Paul is working with the young minister, Timothy, showing him and training him on what he should do. In verse 24, it says, A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach and patient.

Oh, and someone comes with a question. They'll get into an screaming fest over what this means, and that means, listen, pay attention, be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, because there will be people who are in opposition who say, I don't get it. I don't agree with that. Many times it means I don't want to believe it, but be patient with them. Be patient with them. Why? If God, perhaps, will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth. Don't put a stumbling block in their way by the things you say and the way you respond to them. Be patient. Be humble. Perhaps God will open their minds and grant them the same gift He's given you and me, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by Him to do His will. Maybe God will grant them repentance, too. So biblical repentance, it's a gift from God. It's not commonplace. It's not extant in all the world. When you turn on a TV on Sunday morning or turn on the Internet and someone says, repent, repent, repent. They're preaching a different gospel of repentance than Jesus Christ spoke, a different gospel of repentance than John the Baptist spoke, a different gospel of repentance than the 12 disciples went out, and that the early testament, New Testament church, preached. It's a totally different repentance.

Repentance to God has many components of it. One of them is sorrow. When we come to understand that we have sinned against God, that our lives have been kind of living apart from Him, sorrow can be part of it. It should be part of it. Because just like if we offend our spouse or a friend or whatever, and we sinned against them, we should be sorry when we come to understand that.

But the sorrow shouldn't end there. The sorrow should have a benefit and a change to us. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 7. As you turn to 2 Corinthians 7, I'll remind you of 1 Corinthians 5, an unleavened bread example where Paul was writing to the Corinthian church. He was correcting them. They were hearing things they didn't want to hear. It was a hard letter. There were many things that was brought to him, and he corrected them over and over and over again and said, you need to do this and this and that. And he wondered, he wondered, how are they going to take it? Are they going to listen? Are they going to get mad? Are they going to walk away? Are they going to close their minds? Are they going to close their ears? What are they going to do? In 2 Corinthians 7, we find the aftermath. And you remember in 1 Corinthians 5, there was a situation where a member of the church there had to be put out of the church. And Paul said, turn him over to Satan. He's living in a state of immorality. He shouldn't even be in church with you. Turn him over to Satan. He didn't know whether they were going to do it or not. He thought that that might be too hard. Too hard for him to do. He didn't know. It wasn't like today where we could get a phone call back or an internet back or an email back or something. He had to wait and see. Here in verse 8, he addresses that first letter and the things that he had to tell them in that letter. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 8, for even if I made you sorry with my letter, and you know, they were sorry, I'm sure, when they read it and thought, whoa, they may have been patting themselves on their back, thinking, we're pretty good people.

We got a good thing going here. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it, because it was the truth. It had to be told. Paul wasn't going to mince words. He wasn't just going to give them the smooth things that he heard. He wasn't going to just do all praise and all glory and, hey, you're great people and boom, boom, boom. They had to be told because they were the people of God. God is training. God is getting them ready. And they had to comply if they were serious about their calling with the Word of God. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it. He says, though I did regret it, meaning I wish I didn't have to do it, but I had to do it. I didn't want to do it, but I had to do it. For I perceived that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice. Not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance.

You were sorry. You took it to heart. Might have stung when I said those things, when you had to look at yourself and say, you know, Paul's right. And when we look back at the Word of God, we have to do what he said.

Kind of hurt to know that we'd gone that far off course. Be thankful to him that he showed it to us.

It made you sorry, but your sorrow led to repentance, a godly thing. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. Without genuine repentance, salvation is not possible.

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted. The words may sting.

The words may hurt. Looking ourselves in the mirror and ourselves in the mirror may not be what we may not like what we see.

Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted. But the sorrow of the world produces death.

So we learn there's two types of sorrow. One leads to something very good. In verse 11, we find out how very good that is and how invigorating true repentance is. A little painful to begin with, but it leads to all sorts of spiritual energy. Verse 11, 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 things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. You can feel the excitement in Paul's voice. You could probably feel the excitement in that church because they were renewed in spirit. They were doing what God said. They were walking in concert with him and it energized them. They were no longer lackadaisical people just going through and saying, ah, if you want to do that, that's okay. I guess it's not that bad.

They became on fire from God again and that's what true repentance should do for us. The same thing it did for us when we first understood the word of God. That it set us on fire. We couldn't put the Bible down. We couldn't put the booklets down. We couldn't put the understanding down because we were just so excited about what we were reading. But there's two types of sorrow it tells us there in 2 Corinthians 7. One leads to life, repentance to life. The other one leads to death. Now there's an example back in Hebrews 12. Well, a man who had a lot of sorrow. I mean deeply sorrowful. Here in Hebrews 12 and verse 14, as we set the tone with some of the introductory verses to where I'm going in verse 17. Verse 14, pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Looking carefully, here's an examination verse, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Not just a few, but many. We might want to look and examine ourselves in that area. Lest there be, verse 16, any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright, something valuable that God had given him, and yet he counted so, so unimportant that he was willing to just sell it, just sell it for one little thing. It was that unimportant to him. Now the calling of God to us, I mean Jesus Christ says, should be more precious than anything. We should be willing to give everything up in life for the truth that God has called us to. Esau was willing to just throw it away. And there were consequences for his decision, consequences that he suffered or endured for the rest of his life. Verse 17, for you know that afterward, when Esau wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place for repentance, though he saw it adiligently with tears. Oh, he cried a lot. Oh, he was deeply sorry. He wished he had that inheritance that he just forfeited. He wished he could have it back because it affected his life. But he never turned to God. He was sorry about what he lost. He was sorry about the effect it had on his life and on his family. He was sorry about the consequences, but he never sought God. He never sought to say, what did I do wrong? What did I do? Should I have counted that more importantly than I did? He never turned back to God. All he did was feel really sorry for himself and the consequences that he suffered. Worldly sorrow. A lot of people, a lot of people, most people, sometime in their life, feel that worldly sorrow. I wish I hadn't done that. I wish that I hadn't lost all that money. I wish I hadn't done that, and now I find myself going to jail. I wish I had done that. Woe is me. That's not repentance. That's worldly sorrow.

Godly sorrow leads to repentance. Godly sorrow leads to a change of heart, a change of mind, a change of behavior, and a realization of who God is and who we are. Esau never found that.

Judas. Judas. He betrayed Christ. Was he sorry after he betrayed Christ? Absolutely he was sorry. He was bitterly sorry that he betrayed Christ. When he saw what the ramifications of his choice was, he was enormously sorry. He went back to the priest. He gave him the money back. I don't even want this. I never saw this coming. The consequences I never saw. I wish I had never done that. Sure he was sorry. He was so sorry and bitterly sorry that he hung himself. That's how sorry he was. Did he repent? No, he didn't. He never turned to God. He never went back and told God, I am a sinner. I'm the one. I did this. I shouldn't have done it. He never saw it. God, what did I do? How do I do this? He was sorry for what he had done. He was bitterly sorry. It was the sorrow of the world. It wasn't repentance. If he had truly repented, he would have turned to God. His sorrow, worldly sorrow, leads to death.

Godly sorrow leads to repentance, which leads to life.

So we need to know the difference. Many in the world are sorry. And maybe when they hear their ministers speak, they're sorry. Do they turn to God? Do they look in the words of the Bible? Do they do what the Bible says to do? Or this keep doing the same thing they always did?

That's what the Jews did. They just kept doing the same thing. They just kept worshiping God the way they wanted to. They didn't change anything. Jesus Christ said, you're not a repentant generation. Unless you repent, you will perish. Unless we change, we perish. Let's go back to Luke.

Luke 3. So sorrow and recognition of our sin is part of repentance.

It needs to be godly sorrow and not the worldly sorrow. But in Luke 3, we're told that something else must accompany that sorrow and that change of mind. It's not just a matter of saying it. It's not just a matter of giving the lip service and saying, oh, I get it, I get it, whatever. There has to be the change in mind, change in thought, and change in behavior.

Luke 3, verse 7. We're already in Luke 3 with John the Baptist preaching the gospel of repentance. And it says in verse 7 of Luke 3, Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the frat to come? What are you doing here?

What are you doing here looking to be baptized? This baptism is something serious. It's not something to be taken lightly. Well, they heard and they wanted to be baptized. They wanted what was going on, but John looked at them. And he says, verse 8, Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance.

I don't see any change in the way you're living. You're doing the same thing you did before.

If you haven't changed something, you haven't truly repented. Because if you truly repented, you will change your behavior. You will live, in many cases, the opposite of the way that you did before, certainly in a different way of life. But if you keep doing the same thing you've always done, having the same ideas and the same things and still looking to the same things in Babylon that you always looked at, has there been repentance or has there been lip service?

Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we're in the church of God. I've been baptized. I'm here in the church of God. They would say, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children in Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. You know, God is happy when we repent. There's joy in heaven, it sells us in Luke 15.10. There's joy in heaven when we repent. The angels are rejoiced. God rejoices. But He wants to see fruit. John 15a tells us, by this the Father is pleased when we bear much fruit. That means we're not stagnant. That means we don't stop repenting, stop changing when something comes to our attention.

So the people asked Him, saying, verse 10, well, what do we do? What do we do? He answered and said to them, He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none. And he who has food, let him do likewise. You know what? Start looking at people around you. Share what you have. If you see someone in need, share with them. Start looking out for your brother. Stop thinking about just yourself. Start looking out for other people as well. Just as Jesus Christ looked out for us when He gave His life to us, you watch out for them. I want to see some change, He says. And if you have truly repented and if you've been baptized and you have the Holy Spirit, then the fruits of the Spirit begin to kick in. Some of these things should be evident. Verse 12, the tax collectors came to be baptized and said to Him, teacher, what will we do? And He said to them, collect no more than what is appointed for you. I know what you tax collectors have done. You've collected a lot. You've made yourself rich with the position that you have. I'm telling you, keep the job. Just do it honestly.

That's what you need to do. Turn from your way, the way you've always done things, to the way that it should be done. Likewise, the soldiers asked Him, saying, what will we do?

So John said to them, don't intimidate anyone or accuse falsely and be content with your wages.

I know the way you do things. You set people up. You bribe them. You get money from them. You extort them by the position that you have. Don't do that anymore. Now that you know, don't do that anymore. Turn from your way. Turn to God's way. May cost you some bucks, but do what God says.

Turn from the evil way. Turn to God. And let's see it. Let's see it in the works and the fruits of repentance. In Colossians 3, Colossians 3, probably a chapter we will turn to as we get closer to the days of Unleavened Bread.

Colossians 3.

In verse 5, Paul writes, Put to death, when we are baptized, we put to death. Therefore, put to death your members, which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves walked when you lived in them. But there's still some of that in you. It hasn't been perfectly weeded out. Just because you're baptized doesn't mean you're perfect now that all those things have done. You need to continually weed it out and turn to God with heart, mind, and soul. But now you yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, corrupt language out of your mouth. Don't lie to one another.

Since you have put off the old man with his deeds, you said that's what you were doing, that's what you're committing to God, this old person is dead. No longer should he be evident.

Since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and in all. And then he goes on to talk about the things that we should be putting on.

The fruits of repentance, the things that should be evident in us as we follow God. And as we have had this lightning bolt of repentance and awareness of God come upon us.

If you haven't changed your ways, simply put, you haven't repented. If you're the same person now as you were before you were baptized, you haven't truly repented. It's as simple as that. You can say all the words you want, but if it hasn't touched your heart, you won't change. If it has touched your heart, you will. You'll be a different person.

You know, we have a very good example of repentance back in the Old Testament.

The man David. Turn with me back to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, we have a tremendous example of a heartfelt, sincere prayer of repentance of someone who recognized what they were, who they were, and the magnitude of what they had done.

Psalm 51, verse 1. David, after he's become aware that what he's done with Bathsheba, he covered it up in his mind. He made excuses for himself in his mind.

What he did with Bathsheba was a sin. Killing her husband was a sin. And that sin had ramifications. That baby that he so badly wanted to live, it died. His sin had consequences, and David was really sorry about all that. He may have been really sorry about Uriah when he thought about it and thought, wow, Uriah, I shouldn't have done that. Poor Uriah. He was the innocent guy, and I had him put to death. And then this baby suffered, this baby died because of my sin. But that isn't what repentance is about. That's the sorrow. But David turned that sorrow into something more that is repentance. Verse 1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions. I get it. I sinned. I don't have any excuses. I'm not going to try to cover it up. I'm not going to try to make it light for you or try to deceive myself into thinking, it's okay. I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. I get it. I get it right down to the core. Against you. You only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. You know, we could be sorry for many things. David could be very sorry about that baby. He could be very sorry about Uriah, and rightly so. But the state of repentance that God is looking for. David says, against you, you only have I sinned.

It wasn't about relationships. It wasn't about money lost. It wasn't about anything else. It was about I sinned against you, my creator, my sustainer, my savior. So the one that I owe everything to, I sinned against you. All those other things present sorrow, but I sinned against you. When we come to the realization that we sin against God, we get it. And it's a rare thing in this world. But you know it. You know it when you feel it. I've sinned against God. Yes, I'm sorry about the consequences. Yes, this. But I've sinned against you, and that it feels worse than everything else combined. David felt it. True repentance is when we have sinned against God, when we know and recognize who He is, what He's done, what He's provided for us. Just as Joseph did when he was there in Potiphar's household, and Potiphar's wife came to him, and he could have made every excuse on the books. In the books, yes, she's the one who threw herself at me. I'm just a young man. What am I supposed to do? But what did he say? I won't sin against God. He didn't say I won't sin against Potiphar. Yes, that was part of it. I won't sin against God.

Against you. You only have I sinned, David said. When we reach that point, and it hurts that we've let God down, then there's repentance. Then there's change. Then there's turning from all the ways of the world, the idols in the heart, all the things that we make excuses for. Coming out of Babylon, or staying in Babylon, the attitudes of Laodiceans, all those things, they matter. But we leave them behind because we do it for God. We do it for God because He means that much to us, and it's that important to us. When we feel that, we'll change. If we don't change, we haven't felt that yet.

And you might ask God to help you reach that point. Well, repentance, you know, we do that before we're baptized, and that leads us to baptism. That leads to forgiveness of our sins. That leads to the fruit, the Holy Spirit, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. But repentance goes on for the rest of our lives. That's one thing we can't lose sight of. It's not a once thing we do. Yes, we lay the foundation of it, but it goes on the rest of our lives. Let's go back to Revelation. Revelation 2. Because here in Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus Christ has messages to the seven churches. Now, these are all people that are churches of God, right? Just like you and me. He could write a message to the church in Orlando. He could write a message to the church in Jacksonville. And He could say the same words that He said to the church in Ephesus, the church in Pergamos, the church of Laodicea. Chapter 2, verse 5. To the church of Ephesus. This church had works. They kept the Sabbath. They came through Sabbath services, did the things that that. Whatever, but along the way they lost something. Along the way they lost something.

In verse 4, He says, Nevertheless, I have this against you, church in Ephesus. You've left your first love. I don't perceive that there's the energy there that they used to be. You're not as excited as you used to be. You just kind of go through the motions. You're making excuses for yourself. You're kind of doing the bare minimum. Remember, therefore, verse 5, From where you have fallen, and what does He say to a church, repent. Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place. Unless you truly repent. That's a message to us as much as it was to the church in Ephesus. Over in verse 15 to the church in Pergamos, they had people who were holding on to their own little pet doctrines. I'll believe this and I'll believe that, but you know, I kind of like this doctrine, and I think this is where it is and whatever. They did the same thing. They had some of them, it says in verse 15, that were holding the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

God hates every doctrine that's not of the Bible.

Thus you have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate, repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Get in line with God, believe his Bible, base your beliefs in the word that he gives you and me.

Chapter 3, verse 3, the church of Sardis. God doesn't have a whole lot good to say about the church in Sardis. They were church members. They were there. They had a name. They were kind of dead. A lot of the works they did, they were there. They kind of called themselves the Church of God, but they weren't doing a whole lot with it. They didn't look like a church of God.

Verse 3, he says to them, that attitude, remember therefore how you are received and heard, hold fast and repent.

Go back. Turn from the way you've been living back to the way the standard of the Bible gives us.

Therefore, if you will not watch, well there's that word watch, we come across that every now and then, therefore if you will not watch, I'll come upon you as a thief and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. It'll be like the world. It'll be a surprise to you. But if you stay close to me, if you repent, if you stay close, you'll know. And finally in verse 19 to the church of Laodicea, we talked about that last week, you know, he says, here's a church that's like, just like you and me, let's not fool ourselves. There's a little bit of, at least a little bit of Laodicea in every single one of us, including me. We live in a place like Laodicea and we could all examine ourselves in that regard. As many as I love, he says in verse 19, I rebuke and chasten because he wants us to repent. 2 Peter 3 verse 9 says, God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.

I'm patient with you because I am waiting for you to come to repentance. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent. Turn back to me, the same message that was given to God's people from time immemorial. Turn back to me. Repent. Whether you're new in the church or whether we've been around 30, 40, 50 years, because as long as we've been alive, are we alive? There is something. There's something that we repent not one of us is where God wants us to be yet. Let's conclude in Ezekiel. Ezekiel 18. 18 verse 30.

God speaking to Israel. Of course, remember, the Israel had already been gone, so God speaking to Israel today, spiritual Israel. Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel. Everyone, according to his ways, what you do you'll be accountable for, says the Lord God. Repent. Repent and turn from all your transgressions so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why would you die, O house of Israel? The alternative is death.

God means what he says. The alternative is death. It's repent or die. For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord. Therefore, turn and live.