Jesus Saves! But How? PART 13 Repentance

Andrew Grey continues the adult Sunday school series on Salvation: Repentance.

This is from Sunday 22nd March 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Uh we all need sight of this handout headed repentance. I wonder how you were doing in your repentance quiz just then. We won't be marking it, won't be grading you. That's all right. It's a relief. But we want to understand repentance because I think it is an often misunderstood and really precious thing. Remember where we are in this Sunday school series. We've been thinking most recently about how God powerfully brings people into a relationship with himself. We're dead in sin, we're enslaved, we cannot change ourselves. He powerfully summons people into relationship with him, what sometimes is called the effectual call. And he makes us new, he regenerates us. The Christian is a new creature, born again. He forgives our sins and he transforms our wills such that we can then respond. And the response to the gospel is summed up in these two words, repentance and faith. Now regeneration, being born again, it always produces these fruits, repentance and faith. These two things can't be separated, repentance and faith. They're like two sides of the same coin. We are going to talk about them separately. Repentance in this session, faith in our next, but they can't actually be separated. So you could say that faith in Jesus is a repenting faith. And you could say that repentance unto life is a believing repentance. They're like a hand in a glove. And that's why the Lord Jesus says at the very start of the gospel, Mark 1, 14, 15, the time has come, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news. Last thing to say by way of uh preamble, or nearly the last thing. Repentance and faith are necessary. That is, without them, there is no salvation, but they don't earn us anything, they don't credit us anything, they're not meritorious, not least because it's the Lord who enables us to repent and believe. So the credit goes to him. But these are things that we do, things in which we are active, we are very, very active. And my hope is that as we dwell today on repentance, we will be moved cheerfully to repent well and daily because it is good and it is joyful. So I'm going to pray to that end. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would be our teacher this morning. We know that all grace comes from you, all praise is due to you. And we pray that you would teach us for the first or the umpteenth time about the joy of repenting. And we pray that through this you would get much glory and we would experience joy and gladness. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. From the Westminster shorter catechism, there is their summary of what repentance is. Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavour after new obedience. Now there's such a lot jammed in there. You could just dwell on every phrase and couple of words. Just notice, at its very basic level, repentance is a turning. So going this way, and then it is a turning and going that way. It is a turning from sin, it's a leaving of sin behind. And as part of it is a new obedience. But it's not only a turning from sin, it's a turning to God. And that's a really important thing, and we can we'll see that as we go on in this session. It's a turning to God. It's not just a putting of things behind us, it's actually a turning towards a person. You know, the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit. And Christians turn because sin is hateful to us and because Christ is merciful. But that is the shape of repentance. Let's uh dive into it. Look at the second side of the handout. I'd like us simply to read some key scriptures that speak to us of repentance in different ways. So I'm simply just going to read through these verses. From Luke 24. Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. From Acts 2. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 5 31. God exalted him, the Lord Jesus, at his right hand as leader and saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Acts eleven, eighteen. When they heard these things, they fell silent, and they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. Acts twenty, it's the Apostle Paul talking about how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying, both to Jews and to Greeks, of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 6. Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. And from Joel 2. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can endure it? Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents over disaster. We're going to come back to Psalm 51 later. Let's think about our need for repentance. And then with that in place, we're going to think about what repentance actually is. You and I, we were made to love God. That is what we are made for. We are made to love God, and that is the chief way in which we glorify Him. And that is shown by heartfelt obedience to God's commands. It's the way that we show that we love Him. Central here would be the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, which in Mark 12 Jesus summed up simply as love God and love your neighbour. But here's the thing: it's the love of God which encompasses everything. So it's not that we have two loves, love of God and love of neighbor. We have one love. Or rather, we are supposed to have one love. We love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And it is out of that and in that and because of that, that we then love our neighbours as ourselves. And that is what we are designed to do. We are designed to love Him. Sin is loving other things instead of God. At root, when you drill down, sin is loving other things instead of God. Think back into the Garden of Eden, Genesis chapter 3. We sometimes might think that what Adam and Eve did in the garden was a trivial thing. What is the big deal taking fruit from a tree? It seems so small, almost ridiculous, but it was a massive thing that they did. It's really interesting how their sin is described. Eve saw that the tree was good, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and it was desired to make one wise. Now, all of those things, good, delight, desire, all of those things should have been directed to and at the Lord. He is the good one, the desirable one, the delightful one. But instead, there is this terrible swap. Love for God is replaced. Affection and desire is transferred somewhere else. Love for self, actually, love for the serpent and for the serpent's words. And this teaches us that even before sin arises in our actions or in our words, or even before the hand went out to the fruit to take it, and even before the fruit went to the mouth, something has happened in the heart. Something is good to me that shouldn't be good. A love has arisen which shouldn't have arisen. There is a delight and there is a desire which should not be there. So it happens within, it happens in my heart. That enslaves us. It gives rise to idolatry. And that is how deep is my and your and our plight. James 1, 15 puts it like this. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. So we are made to love God, but by nature, because of the fall, we love other things instead of God. Jesus came to save us from our false loves. And here is the glory of the gospel. He came to save us from our false loves. He came to forgive us for our wrong loving. And he also came to change our hearts. When I read through those scriptures that speak about repentance, I wonder if you noticed Acts 5.31. He gives repentance. Well, Acts 11.18, God has granted repentance. Repentance is a gift. It's a gift that God gives to people in Christ. It's part of the gospel. I sometimes wonder whether we think of repentance as the route to the gospel. So here is repentance, it's a necessary thing, and then we get the good thing at the end of the road, which is gospel blessings. And the Bible would say, no, no, no, no, you've got it all wrong. Repentance is a gospel gift. So if you're receiving Christ and all of the blessings of the gospel, that includes the wonderful gift of repentance. In the Westminster Confession, it puts it really clearly like this: repentance unto life is an evangelical grace. So evangelical, it's of the gospel, and it is a grace. That is, it is a gift of God that flows from his gift of regeneration. So the Lord Jesus, what does he give to us? Well, he gives us forgiveness, and he also gives us new hearts and new loves and change. But what does that look like in the Christian's life? On to the back of the handout. Let's think about the shape of repentance. The Bible would say that repentance is not primarily about externals. Let me explain what I mean. For a start, remorse alone is not repentance. Though, of course, repentance might be accompanied by grief. A classic Bible example would be Judas. He portrays Jesus, he is deeply remorseful, and then he takes his life. Now, did Judas repent? And given all of the data about Judas, we would say no, he did not. He was remorseful, but there was no change in his attitude toward God. It's a bit like the warning that the prophet Joel gives. If you just look back at those verses in Joel chapter 2, he says, don't rend your garments, don't tear your garments. So back in his day, that would be a traditional outward show of repentance. So how would you show that you were repentant of your sins? Well, you would tear your clothes. And Joel says, if that's all there is, don't do it. Don't bother. It's not about external things. Now, of course, when we repent from sin to God, there will often be grief along the road, and there will be concrete and specific actions. Think of someone like Zacchaeus. Do you remember him in Luke 19? He's born again. His heart is changed. He places his faith in Christ and he repents. And you can see the fruit of repentance in his life. He says, Anyone I have cheated, I will repay fourfold. It's an outward sign of repentance, but it is a sign of something deeper. So when you track repentance back to its source, well it takes us deeper than just outward actions. Second, caution. Repentance will not leave us in our sins. This is quite a powerful paragraph from John Murray. Repentance reminds us that if the faith we profess is a faith that allows us to walk in the ways of this present evil world, in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, in the fellowship of the works of darkness, then our faith is but mockery and deception. True faith is suffused with penitence, with repentance. And just as faith is not only a momentary act, but an abiding attitude of trust and confidence directed to the Saviour, so repentance results in constant contrition. So if we're born again, then we are no longer slaves to sin. That's what Paul would say, somewhere like Romans chapter 6. Sin is no longer our master. It's no longer dominating us. Therefore, we can and we must turn from sin and unto Christ. But what is repentance? We still haven't really exactly answered that question. At heart, repentance is a tearing of the heart. Repentance is a tearing of the heart. That is, it has to do with our loves. So Joel chapter 2. Return to me with all your heart. Rend your hearts, tear your hearts, and not your garments. Return to the Lord. He is gracious and merciful. And there's a wonderful example of this in the life of King David. Remember his terrible, terrible sin. Read of it in 2 Samuel 12. Adultery and murder and cover-up. And then through the faithfulness of the prophet, he's exposed. And in Psalm 51, we read of his repentance. If you've got a Bible, have a look at Psalm 51. Don't worry if you don't. But if you have a Bible, have a look at Psalm 51. Verse 4. I wonder what you make of verse 4. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. What do you make of that verse? What about Bathsheba? Didn't he sin against Bathsheba? Didn't he sin against Uriah the Hittite? Who he murdered? What about the people of Israel? He was giving them to lead. Did he not betray them? And the answer is yes, of course he did. But really, his sin was against the Lord. And when he comes to the Lord, David is just completely frank about this. My great failure is a failure to love you. Against you, you only have I sinned. Do you notice how David does not make excuses? I have a I think we all do, but I have a great tendency to blame shift. I'm sorry, but dot dot. David does not make excuses. He simply asks for mercy. Because he knows that the thing itself is wrong. The thing that he's done is is wrong. He doesn't blame his circumstances. He doesn't appear to be so worried about the consequences. It's just this thing is wrong. But he kind of goes even deeper than that. It's not just this thing that I have done is wrong, it is I am wrong. I wonder if you noticed in those first few verses all of the personal pronouns. I, I, me. I know my transgressions. Against you only have I sinned. Verse 5, I was brought forth in iniquity. So there is something wrong with me. There's something wrong deep within me. I was brought forth in iniquity. When you trace my sin story, you go right very, very deep into me, my desires and my heart. So if you had asked David, why did you sin? The answer would be because I wanted to. And that's true of all of our sin. We always do what we want. Why did you sin? Because I wanted to. Who put you up to it? I did. And notice what. He longs for most it is a clean heart. Verse 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within. He knows that his loves were all wrong, and he wants his loves to be right, to be clean, to be directed where they should be. And that is the root of repentance. It is a tearing of the heart, coming before God and just disclosing the depth of sin in our heart. And it leads us to Christ. We shouldn't think of repentance as despairing or hopeless. I think Judas knew only despair. He never repented unto God. Repentance is a wonderful thing because Jesus came to give us what we need most: forgiveness through his blood, but also what David longs for: a changed and a changing heart, a clean heart. Think of what we've been learning in James 1. He came to give us whole hearts. We have fractured hearts. Our loves are divided, and he is putting our hearts back together. So when a Christian comes to Christ and we confess our false loves, there is something wrong with me. There is something wrong very deeply wrong with me. Well, actually, the Lord Jesus then raises us up. There is no sin so great that it can bring damnation on those who repent. There is no sin so great. Because we have a wonderful Saviour. And as we repent to this Christ, who is full of grace and mercy and cleansing power, well, the Lord, He then floods our hearts with love for Him. It helps to do what we want in our right minds to do. It helps to flood our hearts with love for Him. And in turn, that helps to drive away our false loves. And it is the happiest of things. Satan would love us to think that repentance is a bad thing to do in order to get something good. I mean, if he can't stop us being Christians altogether, that would be a great outcome for Satan, wouldn't it? That would be a win. Grudging repentance, something unpleasant, depriving me of my fun, because I know I ought to do it. Repentance is good. It enables us to receive God's love and to love in return and to be made clean and whole. And then out of it flows new abilities to love God and love our neighbour, to be the people we were built to be. It's a bit-by-bit change, isn't it? It's a progressive change. Think of how the Lord might put his finger on something specific in our hearts or lives, maybe it's words or actions. There will often be very specific and concrete and particular bits of repentance to do, repenting away from something and repenting toward the Lord. But always it tracks back to our hearts and to our loves. It's a gift of God, this, it's a work of the Spirit, but it is one in which we are very, very active. Every day, our hearts are kind of restless things. They're always doing something, they're always going one direction or the other. And so when we think about repentance, and you know, when do we repent? Well, obviously at the start of the Christian life, there's like a definitive repentance, but it's a daily thing, it's a weekly thing when we gather in worship and we confess and we receive the gospel and assurance and we pray and purpose to go in a new direction. And it is a wonderful and a precious gift. Yes. So tiny bit more. There is obviously something definitive about the turning that you do at the start of the Christian life. So, for example, you read in of the Thessalonians' experience, how they turned from idols to serve the true and living God. So there is something definitive about that, but there is something daily and ongoing which Christians do. And so, in the same way, we don't we don't just believe once, we continue to exercise saving faith. The saving faith we always daily exercise is a repenting faith, constantly turning away and turning to, turning away and turning to. So Psalm 51, David's life, that that is an example of he's already a believer, but he has to repent. Or Joel II, that the nation had gone astray, they were covenanted with the Lord, they're being called back to repent. That was actually this is actually what the whole Reformation was about. So when Martin Luther went and nailed the 95 theses on the door at Wurtemberg about indulgences, actually, thesis number one is about repentance and how every day is a repenting day. But the Roman Catholic Church were doing things that stopped people from repenting and believing. So yeah, it's a it's a daily thing. I mean, Psalm 32 would talk about the great relief and release of repentance, but we don't always feel that. And maybe that's just an opportunity just to share with a trusted friend. Um is it true, is it true guilt or is it false guilt? I mean, true guilt, maybe there's something that you've not acknowledged to God, or maybe there's a kind of a bit of restitution which you could do, which you haven't done. That might be a a nudging of the Holy Spirit. It might equally be the evil one wanting to make us doubt the goodness and the mercy of Christ. And sometimes it's actually very hard to distinguish. I mean, sometimes just need a friend and to say, well, actually, yeah, the gospel is really true. Can't always change the consequences of past sins. But you know, Christian, cleansed, you know, forgiven, new heart, he's making you whole. Yeah. Um, I'm gonna pray and then uh we're gonna stop. Father, it is a wondrous thing that you show grace and mercy to us. Uh, you know each of us in a way that we don't even know ourselves, let alone want to share with others. And we thank you for grace and mercy. We pray for your ongoing gift of repentance and faith. Pray that we would know the joy and gladness of an increasingly whole heart. And we pray in Christ's name. Amen.