The Gift of Repentance

Text: Acts 2:36-47

Introduction

Peter is preaching to the entire world the whole counsel of God and how sinners are to be saved.

Purpose: to show what transpires in the life of a sinner when the Spirit of God regenerates his heart and unites him to Jesus Christ

“Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord.”

• The language of crying out for help, or calling upon His name, is associated with, and at times used as a description of, genuine faith cf. Rom. 10:9 ;14
• But this reality of calling upon Christ for salvation can also be viewed from another perspective: from the side of repentance.
• Believing in Christ describes our relationship to Him → Repentance describes our turning away from our sinful life… inseparable i.e coin
• • [T. Watson on Faith and Repentance] “two wings by which a sinner flies to heaven.”

The problem of modern evangelicalism - the commercialization of the milk and honey of the heavenly Canaan while minimizing the holiness of God and the horridness of sin.

• They present Christ not as a holy and divine King whose scepter upholds righteousness and who hates wickedness. They disarm the King by preaching a gospel without repentance from sin.

• Israel now knows with certainty that the man they crucified is the Lord of hosts cf. Daniel 7; Isaiah 45; Psalm 2;Eccl 12:13; Ezekiel 18; Hosea 14;Joel 2

What happens next after a sinner turns to Christ?

• Radical and serious change takes place in his life. A life of repentance and a life of communion with the saints follow as expressions of his new allegiance to Christ.
• True repentance has both a Christological and an ecclesiological focus.

Christ is the end of every true repentance (the telos)

Cut to the heart

A feeling of deep sorrow and remorse… being pricked or pierced as though their hearts had been exposed and wounded by a sharp blade.

• A twofold effect: they will either turn toward Christ or walk away from Christ; they will either hate their sin or hate the preacher.
• • Acts 7:54 (KJV) ‘When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.’.. they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned Stephen. i.e Pharaoh Exo 7-14; Herod Mk 6; Judas Matt 26-27… they never reached true repentance.
  • Repentance must have a proper object and a proper end.
• A man may be filled with deep sorrow because he fears death and the terrors of hell… experience guilt and shame… resolve to make amends for his sins and, for a time, depart from them. Yet if Christ is not the end, the telos and goal of his repentance, sin will eventually sprout anew. And when it does, it will produce fresh pleasures that entangle him once again and lead him to death.

The cut of grace and mercy

Note: by our own resolve, can produce genuine repentance.. What is the difference between these people and those who killed Stephen?

• Both groups were guilty of murder and rejecting Christ… both were “cut to the heart.” Yet why do these people come to Christ with great sorrow and remorse for their sins, while those who heard Stephen responded by gnashing their teeth and stoning him?
• We are all by nature, a sinner and hostile towards God… we will never have that will to surrender to Christ cf. Jer 13

Repentance is a divine gift

• Ezekiel 36 → effect: they were cut to the heart, and they were made alive cf. Zech 12:10
• [T. Watson] “Until the heart is full of compunction it is not fit for Christ… The more bitterness we taste in sin, the more sweetness we shall taste in Christ.”
• This is true of all believers, that same hand that wounds us is the same hand that heals.

We did not discover our sin as if we were naturally wise enough to see it. God opened our eyes and He exposed our sin. He cut our hearts and He turned it toward Christ.

Challenge:

1. Our repentance should be centered on the gospel - no amount of moral or religious effort can erase our guilt before God… no amount of righteousness of our own can justify us before God.

a. Christ’s perfect obedience is your only righteousness, and His sacrificial death is the only death that can fully atone your sins.

2.  Our repentance should hold fast to the promises of God

a. Jeremiah 32:39-41- God does not abandon the work of grace that He Himself has begun in us.

b. Our repentance is continually renewed because His covenant mercy is continually renewed.

The Covenant community as the ordinary means

Brothers, what shall we do?

Note: Luke 3 - John commands them to turn away from all your wickedness.

• Peter's baptism is proclaimed in the name of the crucified and risen Christ and marks the believer's public identification with Him and incorporation into the New Covenant community.

Warning:

1. Salvation by Baptism?

a. Baptism is the outward sign accompanying the sinner's repentance and faith in Christ.

b. Repentance and water baptism are closely correlated. The inward and invisible work of God's regenerating grace expresses itself outwardly as the sinner turns away from his sinful way of life and publicly professes his allegiance to Christ and His lordship through water baptism.

2. Unbelief to belief?

a. [Ryrie, 62] “What kind of repentance saves? Not a sorrow for sins or even a sorrow that results in a cleaning up of one’s life…The only kind of repentance that saves is a change of mind about Jesus Christ”

b. Biblical repentance is a picture of death and newness of life expressed in water baptism. cf. Rom 6

New life, New Family

Note: A life previously devoted to sin is now devoted to the body of Christ… as they receive the word, they also receive a new family

• The Church is Christ’s ordinary repository of the means of grace through which He supplies His people with what they need for the growth and maturity of their repentance.

The apostles teaching - the Gospel serves as the standard of our repentance, we have no apostles today, but the apostolic view of repentance should always be preached in our pulpit

• The Spirit gradually reveals our remaining corruptions and exposes them in the light of Scripture.
• The Word guards us from counterfeit repentance that is focused on emotions.
• The Word disarms our sinful flesh and calls us to put to death its passions and desires.

The fellowship = the arena where repentance is sharpened

• Repentance has a communal dimension… individualism can plague the Christian life…
• The cutting of our hearts may sometimes happen when we exercise biblical fellowship… a cut of grace and mercy. cf. Prov 27:6

The sacraments - they are continually set before us the promises of God and call us to examine ourselves,

Challenge: Immerse yourself in the community and fellowship of the saints. This is where your repentance grows and matures. You are not alone in your struggle against sin.