July 29, 2001  •  Pastor Randy Smith

I begin with a question. Is repentance a necessary ingredient in the gospel message? As early as 1937, Dr. Harry Ironside noted that the biblical doctrine of repentance was being excluded from the gospel. He wrote, "The doctrine of repentance is the missing note in many otherwise orthodox and fundamentally sound circles today." Was he right? Is the doctrine of repentance being eliminated, redefined and negotiated? As we examine the 8th distinctive of a New Testament church, I ask you, is repentance essential to the gospel?

I’ll let you be the judge. John the Baptist said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt. 3:2). Jesus also said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Mt. 4:17) The 12 disciples "went out and preached that men should repent" (Mk. 6:12). In the first evangelistic speech after Pentecost, Peter said, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Ac. 2:38). Paul said, "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent" (Ac. 17:30). Jesus said, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Lk. 13:5). This is only the tip of the iceberg. And I could take you to the 68 more New Testament word occurrences expressing the need to repent.

Is repentance a necessary ingredient to the gospel message? Is repentance a defining fruit of a believer who has had his or her heart regenerated by the Spirit? I hope you will see that the answer to both of those questions is a resounding "yes!"

Maybe we should begin with a definition: What is repentance? According to the Scriptures, 3 Greek words are transliterated "repentance." I believe all three put together describe 3 truths necessary for complete repentance. The Greek word Metanoeo speaks of a spiritual change of the mind. Literally it means "to have another mind." It implies a change of opinion with regard to sin and the recognition of sin against a holy God. We’ll call this the intellectual aspect. The second word, Metamelomai, speaks of personal grief or sorrow over sin as it has offended one’s heavenly Father. We’ll call this the emotional aspect. Finally, Epistrepho, speaks of a change in direction and transformation of the will. Evidence is marked by an observable difference in conduct. We’ll call this the volitional aspect.

True biblical repentance therefore involves an intellectual, emotional and volitional aspect. Putting these together, John Calvin said, "Repentance is the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of Him; and it consists in the mortification of the flesh and the renewing of the Spirit." The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, "Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of true sense of his sin (intellectual aspect), and appreciation of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of sin (emotional aspect), turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience (volitional aspect)."

The objective this morning is to discern the need for and character of biblical repentance as it initiates a believer into the kingdom of God and then characterizes a believer throughout his or her Christian experience.

1. CONTEMPLATE THE SUPREME

Let’s begin in verse 17 in Acts chapter 19. "And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified." Look at the second word in the NASB translation, "this". "And this became known." What became known? What caused such great fear? We need to initially back up to verse 10 to determine the antecedent for "this."

"And this (Paul lecturing in the school of Tyrannus) took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. (Notice how the Word was heard first.) And God was performing extraordinary miracles (to authenticate the Word) by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. (Some thought this sounded like a great gimmick.) But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.’ And seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, ‘I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?’ And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded" (Ac. 19:10-16). This is the event that became known to all the Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus mentioned in verse 17. God allowed this incident to achieve a wholesome effect in advancing His kingdom. What was the result?

Look at verse 17, "Fear fell upon them all." The Greek word phobos is where we get our English word "phobia." Literally we could say the town of Ephesus was in terror. They realized that the Name of Jesus was not one to be taken lightly. They realized that above their gods, Jesus was the supreme deity who deserved homage, reverence and awe. They realized their need to submit to the authority and bow to lordship of Christ. They were confronted with the Living God, the omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent Ruler and Judge of the universe, the One who is described as a Consuming Fire in Hebrews 12. It was a reverential fear, channeled through the Word that enabled and motivated the local populace to see their need to repent.

Though repentance is a human responsibility, it begins with God and is empowered by God as a token of His grace. Let me illustrate. Within the past decade, an earthquake in L.A. devoured the "red-light" district of town (prostitute alley, etc.). A reporter asked John MacArthur if this was a demonstration of wrath of God on sin. "No," he said to the surprise of the reporter, "This is the mercy of God."

You may ask, why the mercy? It is because humans have not feared their Creator but have offended their Creator in the worst possible way. Instead of reflecting the glory of God, they reflect the glory of themselves. The fact that God allows the reprobate to take another breath demonstrates His patience and kindness to those who have yet to repent and acknowledge Him. Take 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." Or Romans 2:4, "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" He is patient and kind "because God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom. 1:18). God sent a warning call to the people in LA and provided them an opportunity for repentance. That is a demonstration of His mercy!

After all, what brings forth God’s wrath? What ultimately keeps man from God? Why don’t all men repent and turn to their Creator? Because man fails to see his wickedness in the sight of the Almighty, who will one day call him to account. And it’s only when man fears God and sees His sin against the backdrop of God’s holiness that he is motivated through the Spirit to repent and acknowledge his Creator.

In summary, God’s grace, which allows one to fear Him, leads one to repentance. Basically this is the teaching of Jesus. "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Mt. 10:28). "And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, ‘Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation’" (Lk. 23:39)? In describing the depravity of man, Paul in Romans 3:18 said, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Throughout the Scriptures we continually see God honored by a reverential fear that leads to repentance and salvation. What a far cry this is from the popular evangelist saying, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!"

The fear of the Lord is beneficial in enabling one to initially repent and turn to God for forgiveness. However, Christian, you are not off the hook. The fear of God is also a necessary ingredient to honor the Lord by repenting throughout one’s Christian life.

But Pastor, you may ask, as a believer, am I to fear God? Haven’t I been reconciled to God? Hasn’t the enmity between the two of us been abolished? Didn’t Jesus Christ die for my sins? Most definitely! Though the Christian is no longer to fear condemnation (Romans 8:1), the believer is still to hold God in a position of respect, awe and reverence. Remember in Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction." Is it not God’s mercy that He even allows you or I as believers to take another breath as well?

I’ve been in churches today that are likened to a country club. Almighty Jehovah of the Bible, the One who created the world by His word, the One who defeated the enemies of the Israelites, the One who resurrected Jesus from the grave, the One who works all things after the counsel of His will, is reduced to nothing more than the man upstairs who winks at my sin and exists to make me happy as a celestial doormat. When we consider the image of God painted by most Christians, how can we wonder why the church has failed to repent? How can we wonder why the church acts no differently than the world? The answer is because they serve a puny God. We must fear God! We must repent! Remember what happened to Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to God in Acts 5? They dropped dead on the spot. The result, "And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things " (Ac. 5:11). Even the Apostle John in Revelation 1, when confronted with the person of Christ, fell at His feet as a dead man (Rev. 1:17).

This Christian life is not a game! God takes His Word and His character very seriously. And as His creatures we had better respect and revere Him and pursue a holy life of repentance. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).

Look at the final clause of Acts 19:17, "And the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified." "The name" encompasses everything that is true about Jesus. According to the Lord’s Prayer, we are to hallow Thy Name and treat it as holy. What magnified the name of the Lord according to this text? It was magnified by people bowing before Him in fear and homage as they turned from their sins and turned to God in repentance.

2. CONFESS THE SIN

After one has "Contemplated the Supreme," the next step of repentance (as we move to point #2) is to "Confess the Sin." Verse 18, "Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices." Because of this reverential fear of the Lord, many put their faith in Jesus Christ. But faith is only one side of the coin for true salvation; it must be coupled with repentance. And the first step of repentance is the confession of sin. In other words, the first step of repentance is an intellectual and emotional aspect of agreeing with God that you have offended His holy character. Specifically, the sin in this case with the Ephesian believers was an affiliation with magic and sorcery.

A little history of Ephesus might help at this point. Ephesus, as confirmed by archeology and history was the center of black magic and other occult practices. The people would create magical formulas to give them wealth, happiness and success. Superstition, sorcery, divination, omens and charms were commonplace.

Now, are these practices acceptable for one who fears God and seeks to emulate and please Him? Definitely not! Moses said, "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so" (Deut. 18:10-14).

The late James Montgomery Boice said, "The believers (in Ephesus) saw that it was not possible for them to confess Jesus as Lord and still cling to their occult practices. They could not keep one foot in the church and the other in the world." The new believers in Ephesus were confronted with this unholy practice and their response was immediate confession. That’s beautiful! Regardless if you are a believer for 50 days or 50 years, your response to revealed sin should be met with immediate confession and repentance… what D.L. Moody called a "Right about face." And obviously in order to confess the sin we must first be made aware of the sin through the Word and Holy Spirit.

This week I spoke with a gentleman from this church over the phone. He said, "Pastor, I’m probably wrong about much of what I have said pertaining to my life and theology." I told him that I agree with 99% of what he said. After some further discussion, just before we ended our conversation, he said, "Pastor, do me a favor. Let me know about the 1%." Nobody wants to know the 1% if they’re not willing and desirous to change. If we are serious about turning from sin, we will be serious about exposing sin in our life.

You know, there is not one biblical text that says you should pray over your repentance. There is not one biblical text that says you can repent when you personally feel like it. There is not one biblical text that advocates partial repentance. The command is simple. When you are confronted with wrongdoing, the immediate response is REPENT! Why? Simply because this proper attitude toward repentance demonstrates the power of the gospel and a heart eagerly seeking to please the Lord. Both of these bring God great glory!

A few interesting points from verse 18:

The text says they "kept coming." The verb is in the imperfect tense which shows a continuous action in the past. Those who confessed did so in a progressive, repetitive action, one after another. When these new believers became aware of the sin, they confessed in droves, they "kept coming."

"Confessing" - The word confessing most likely indicates a public confession before the congregation. "Christian History" issue 37 reveals, "Repentance was an involved process in the early church. Sin was seen not as a personal matter but as something that destroyed the unity of the church. Individuals fasted and prayed for the forgiveness of their sins, appeared before the church to make public confession, and were barred from the Lord’s Supper until they gave evidence of a change of heart." The Ephesians were willing to openly reveal their sins and demonstrate the fruit of a changed life. Far from being embarrassed, they knew their honesty would glorify the Lord and encourage others in the same action. Even James 5:16 says to, "confess your sins to one another."

The verse concludes with the phrase, "disclosing their practices." The Greek word for practices is praxeis. The word can be transliterated to "secret magic spells." Though that may not sound like much to us, according to magical theory, divulged spells are rendered useless (similar to a magician revealing his secrets today). But within that fact, lies great theological truth. Just as the Ephesians’ confession (destroying their spells) resulted in a desire to no longer return to their sin, our confession should not just be a "forgive me" plea, but also an earnest desire to turn to righteousness, to abolish the sin, to render the sin useless.

Allow me also to say that confession of sin is not a blanket statement offered to God at the end of each day. "Oh Lord forgive my sins, amen." Rather it is daily permission that allows the Spirit to probe your heart to see if there are any specific sins in your life. And when they are revealed, the pattern should not be sin-confess-sin-confess, etc. (I have no license to sin merely because Jesus died for my sins), but rather sin-confess-repent-grow. Because we have that humbling command in 1 John 2:6 that says, "The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." Remember, it is much easier to repent of sins that we have committed than to repent of those we intend to commit.

And though confession of sin is not easy, and frankly impossible for the prideful man, confession is only the second step toward complete repentance. Beyond confession must be that volitional desire to turn from the sin. Allow me to take you to point #3. We must also "Clean the Slate."

3. CLEAN THE SLATE

Verse19, "And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." Complete repentance is a complete break from the sin. They agreed with God that their practice was wrong, they openly confessed their sins to the church and they broke the power of their magical spells. Now what about their magical books?

As a footnote, these books were interestingly known as "Ephesian Letters" which reveals the widespread practice of magic in Ephesus. Commonly the books would contain magical signs and formulas of incantations. But again, what should be done with the books?

The text says they "began burning them in the sight of all. Again the grammar conveys a continuous action, throwing book after book into the fire. Later in the verse, Luke tells us that the cost of these books totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. That’s about 5 million bucks today! I think the point is clearly understood. Nothing should stop us short of complete repentance, despite the monetary, physical, emotional or social cost to ourselves. The Ephesians didn’t keep some of their sin or even sell their books; they totally cleaned the slate and burned their sin. They made a complete break!

Unlike the story of the shoplifter who wrote to a department store and said, "I’ve just become a Christian, and I can't sleep at night because I feel guilty. So here’s $100 that I owe you." Then he signed his name, and in a little postscript at the bottom he added, "If I still can’t sleep, I’ll send you the rest."

Rather, we are to make a complete break with sin, and do it with great joy! The German theologian Helmut Thielicke once said, "The glum, sour faces of many Christians… They rather give the impression that, instead of coming from the Father's joyful banquet, they have just come from the Sheriff who has auctioned off their sins and now are sorry they can't get them back again."

What about you? Have you made a complete break with sin with a spirit of joy? Or are you managing your sin instead of repenting of your sin? Someone once said, "Repentance is always difficult and the difficulty grows still greater by delay." Along these lines another said, "If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in." Is there anything that the Lord would have you burn? Maybe it’s something physical such as magazines, videos or TV stations? Maybe it’s something internal such as adultery of the heart, bitterness, or a lack of forgiveness? I’m telling you to radically amputate the sin. Oh Pastor, that’s too black and white. Yes it is, black words on white pages written by the finger of God!

And the question is never, what will it cost, but rather what is right. There was no greater cost than the Son of Man who suffered on that cruel cross as a ransom for your sin. Are you not willing to make the "smallest sacrifice" in turning from sin to demonstrate your love for Him? You cannot cherish Jesus and your sin. We cannot add Christ without subtracting sin. A change in belief should always be followed by a change in behavior. May we be as sincere as the Puritan who said, "I need to repent of my repentance."

After all was it not Jesus who said, "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3). Should we find this surprising?

We’ve examined the aspects of repentance first by "Contemplating the Savior," second we saw the need to "Confess the Sin," third we examined the requirement to "Clean the Slate." Finally, let’s check the goal of repentance, (point #4) to "Celebrate the Savior."

4. CELEBRATE THE SAVIOR

OK Pastor. You have given me three steps to repentance, but why should I repent? Ultimately because it is commanded from your Lord! It is an essential component of the gospel! It brings glory to your Savior! Verse 20, "So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing." The radical change of the Ephesians’ hearts demonstrated the power of God as He has revealed Himself in the Word. John MacArthur said of this verse, "Bold preaching of the gospel, confirming miracles, defeated exorcists, resultant awe and respect for the Name of Jesus and public confession of sin demonstrated the invincible might of God’s Word."

Look at verse 10, "And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks" (Ac. 19:10). The change began with the Word of God and resulted in praise for the Word of God. Verse 20 says, "The Word grew mightily (referring to the extension of the gospel) and prevailed (referring to its influence on the conduct of those who embraced it)." Due to the powerful influence of God’s Word, the Ephesians experienced a transformation of heart, one that even all the dark forces of occult and magic could not restrain.

You see beloved, when people repent, it demonstrates a power that only God can produce. It demonstrates a new allegiance and new Lord in our lives. It demonstrates a changed heart that no longer seeks to live for self, but rather for God’s glory. There can be no doubt that repentance brings great glory to God.

I find it very fascinating that Ephesus 2,000 years ago was notarized by their propensity with the occult. But now, what comes to mind when you think of Ephesus? Paul’s writing place of 1 Corinthians; John’s writing place of his gospel and 3 epistles; the Letter to the Ephesians; 1 and 2 Timothy, written to Timothy when he was a pastor in Ephesus. Ephesus, thanks to the power of God to change a heart, is no longer remembered for their "magic books," but rather for being a custodian of biblical truth.

And that biblical truth, the Word of God, is the source used by the Spirit to lead us to repentance. And as we repent, as we seek our pardon from God, we restore our fellowship with the Father. As the prodigal son, we find Him waiting with open arms ready to forgive in Christ.

Beloved, may we: Contemplate the Supremacy of God, Confess our Sin, and Clean our Slate. And may God be glorified by our repentance though His Word at The Grace Tabernacle, similar to the way He was at Ephesus. May we also witness the Word of the Lord growing mightily and prevailing… all to the glory of God!

I will allow the great theologian Charles Hodge to have the final word…"The sure test of the quality of any supposed change of heart will be found in its permanent effects. Whatever, therefore, may have been our inward experience, whatever joy or sorrow we may have felt, unless we bring forth fruits meet for repentance, our experience will profit us nothing. Repentance is incomplete unless it leads to confession and restitution in cases of injury; unless it causes us to forsake not merely outward sins, which others notice, but those which lie concealed in the heart; unless it makes us choose the service of God and live not for ourselves but for Him. There is no duty, which is either more obvious in itself, or more frequently asserted in the Word of God, than that of repentance."